Love your local shop
Why you need to support your local enterprise
Seasonal food and produce that was reared in the area, minimising its carbon footprint, are among the reasons to support community retailers and niche brands
Most of us have grown up with the convenience of supermarkets. They are such an established part of the Western way of life that we use them unthinkingly: convenient, aisles full of produce flown in from all corners of the world and delicacies to satisfy the most sophisticated and demanding of palates. Go back a generation and it was all very different. Fruit and veg was seasonal. If you wanted strawberries in February, tough. It’s probably just as well that there were no celebrity chefs then to fuel a sudden craze for balsamic vinegar or quinoa. People ate what was available from their local markets. And local was the key word. In one of the ironies of progress we have come full circle. People now want provenance from their food. They are not just looking carefully at the packaging, as looking to dispense with packaging all together: mushrooms in brown paper bags, leeks rolled up in a newspaper, cheese cut from a great wheel, still in its cloth binding. Wherever you live, chances are there will be local suppliers popping up somewhere very close by: fruit and veg that has been pulled out of the ground or picked a stone’s throw away from where you are standing; dairy produce from animals who are probably grazing on the
same fields you drive past on your way to work; artisan bakers, farm shops with locally sourced meat and sustainably caught fish and micro-breweries. These small regional suppliers are also giving rise to a new phenomenon: the food box. If you can’t get to a local supplier, a local supplier will come to you. Even if the produce has not been reared on your doorstep it will have come from a proper working farm and never seen the inside of a factory or a conveyor belt. Take Riverford Farm in Devon. Guy Watson used to deliver fruit and veg to around 30 local families but demand was so high, there are now four farms in the UK and one France which help supply the 47,000 boxes of fruit, veg and meat he delivers round the country every week. His dairy selection includes Wooton white Greek style sheep’s cheese; Laverstoke Park buffalo mozzarella; Caws Cenarth brie – no heavy duty carbon footprints here. It might involve a bit of trial and error to find the farm shop or supplier who can deliver precisely what you want from your grocer: whether it is home-made chutneys or well-hung beef. You might still not be able to find figs in March. But do support your local farmers. You really will be able to taste the difference.
Local businesses make your community more of a home. Small niche outfits will give it character and might even encourage visitors, thereby helping to generate prosperity. Local businesses are usually owned by people who live there. They have a vested interest in delivering a good service and keeping their customers happy. These companies, whether it’s a coffee shop or a fruit and veg stall, are more likely to offer local produce that you will not find in a supermarket, unusual varieties of apples say or a local cheese When fewer vehicles are used to transport goods around the place, roads become quieter, air becomes cleaner and the environmental impact is reduced. Local businesses mean jobs for local people. This is a very good thing! When you shop locally, you will meet likeminded people who can potentially be your customers if you have a business yourself, or your friends if you don’t. Get networking. Some local companies have been in the same family for generations. It is part of your local heritage and by supporting them you bind yourself to a community with a history, as well helping to ensure its future.
CASE STUDY Rare Brands Markets is an online purveyor of unusual and not-found-anywhere-else merchandise. Its founder is Emma Schwarz, who was driven to set up the company after a particularly dispiriting Christmas shopping expedition when she realised that everything in the shops came from a big brand corporate. This is how she finds niche products. “I am on a constant look out to uncover brands that you don’t see everywhere. I am looking for companies are that are independent, with a great back-story behind them. Some sort of passion must have driven the founder to start the business, and that’s the bit I love the most… discovering the story behind the brand.”
Here are five of my favourites Pure Tisanes, created by Gilly Cowley is a range of snap frozen, herbal infusion tea made with fresh produce. Gilly always felt most of the herbal teas you find in shops did not truly capture natural flavours because most of them are dried and the taste did not match aroma as a result. By using the snap-freezing techniques (a method of freezing produce very quickly), Pure Tisanes has captured a far more natural brew. Its infusions include chamomile, juniper and sage, kaffir and lemon thyme, rosemary and star anise and lemon balm and cardamom. puretisanes.com Freddie’s Flowers is a flower mail order company with a difference. For £20 a week, it will send you a beautiful, fresh and unusual bouquet of flowers. You can either keep the bouquet for yourself or redirect it to someone you want to surprise with flowers by post. The flowers come direct from growers, which guarantees the quality. This week’s selection includes a selection of lilies, alstroemeria and smoky-purple cotinus. freddiesflowers.com Mike and Louise McNeilage took three months out of work to travel through India. On their return they decided to create six products that would be indispensable for any gapyear student on their travels. Intelligent Pelican’s must-have kit in one bag includes a universal travel plug, a charger for multiple devices, a sleeping bag liner, a padlock and cable, a travel towel and a headlamp. It’s also perfect for festival-goers too. intelligentpelican.com David Williams has spent a lifetime designing wooden pedal boats, and Dad’s Boats is a family enterprise that has seen his designs become a reality. A sophisticated gearbox enables two people to propel the boat, quite sociably, facing eachother. It’s not just sociable, but environmentally friendly and good exercise. dadsboats.com Adrian Henry and Rachel Williams bought a run-down property in Umbria, the Casa Margherita, which came with an equally run-down olive grove. After years of loving restoration and nurturing, they have launched an “adopt an Olive Tree” business. The adoption scheme provides you with two litres of extra virgin olive oil from the very tree you have adopted. casa-margherita.com
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