Hey!

I know you are being bombarded by emails. I only wanted to share something! Not a sales email.

Earlier this week I was asked by a reporter to give some comments on the importance of shopping small / shopping locally this season.

Friends who have known me for a long time know how passionate I am about buying-small/buying-local.

I formerly owned/operated a well-liked gifts and vinyl record store for 16 years, I have my own service-based consulting business (Lauren Davis Creative) and I co-founded and ran a non-for-profit for local grassroots businesses in our local community.

At the end of our 13-year run, our non-profit had served over 1000 small business owners, managers and operators locally.

From the time I was a pre-teen until now my mom has owned a gourmet dog biscuit bakery. My dad is an economic development consultant.

What I am saying is... Small-business-love is in my genetic makeup. I can't help it. I have small business ideas and tips bursting out of my brain all of the time.

So when the local reporter reached out to me, I had a lot to say. As with any collaborative article, only a little bit of what I communicated was published, but I wanted to share my answers because you might find them interesting and hopefully inspiring.

TLDR: If you don't have time to read (It will take you 3 minutes in full) I recommend this:

• Choose to shop small and local this season. Your brain may say it’s inconvenient, but give it a moment to work through solutions.
• When you need to buy something, pause and ask, “Does a small or regional business have this?” This goes for everything from appliances to snacks, to services.
• If you’re shopping online, look for small, purposeful businesses before heading to the big platforms.
• Shopping small supports someone’s dream and keeps more money in your community. About 67% stays local for every dollar you spend.
• Small businesses represent 99.9% of all U.S. businesses and employ 61.7 million people, about half of the private-sector workforce, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Buying local is vitally important to economic health.

I am sharing this with you on behalf of every small business I work with, every creator client, every author, every friend of mine who is gearing up for the next few weeks at their local business, every restaurateur and service provider who is anticipating what is next.

The next few weeks, during a season where you already plan to spend a few dollars, I encourage you to focus on small businesses, local businesses, service based businesses FIRST and think outside of the box.

You will be amazed at how your life may improve and how much good it will do for the people and communities you love.

Here is what the reporter asked me, and my answers:

P.S. If you want a link to the actual article, reply and I will send it your way.

You said on Facebook that you’ve been feeling the weight of local businesses and the economy this holiday season. Can you be more specific about that?

Through seeing news stories of closing businesses, and quite a few personal messages from business owners turned friends, I’ve felt a sense of heaviness but also curiosity and anticipation from local business owners.

There are a lot of “not sure what is going to happen next” feelings.

There is also really beautiful hope that gets woven into those messages every time a business takes something like marketing or creative collaborations into their own hands and sees movement. I always encourage business owners to look at momentum as data.

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How is the level of concern for local businesses different now from what you observed when Winnebago Buy Local launched, given that was started as people were pulling through the Great Recession?

When Winnebago Buy Local began in 2010, I, along with other local business owners who co-founded it, knew that it was most important at the time to educate the community about the benefits of buying local.

According to a study done by American Express in 2018, 68% of every dollar stays in your local community when you buy from a local business as opposed to 42% when you buy from other kinds of businesses.

As we continued our organization through 2023, we noticed just how great the need was to get local business owners together, to realize that they weren’t alone in their challenges, to grow from their collective expertise, and to provide them with accessible opportunities to learn from experts.

From those relationships with each other they grew a stronger network, created collaborations, and shared learning experiences.

I believe many organizations and community members still believe in the mission of buying locally, although Winnebago Buy Local ended in 2023.

More than ever before, people KNOW and have seen firsthand the power that their dollars have in "being the change." We’ve seen our generous community step up in many ways through the years.

However in 2025 with more years of technology behind us, it is also convenient to not choose the local business option for your purchases which is why during the holiday season our community has a big opportunity to build strength into our local economy of local businesses and put intentionality behind their gift buying.

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What do you see as the biggest of all the challenges this holiday shopping season?

Employers across the U.S. cut nearly 950,000 jobs this year through September, and is expected to reach over 1-Million, the largest number of layoffs since 2020, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Many folks in midwestern communities like ours have a lot of choices they’re weighing about how to put food on the table and provide for their life and/or families.

In times of big decisions, it’s naturally easier to lean into the seemingly more convenient option of getting something shipped to your doorstep from big box or online retailers for the sake of time, energy, and capacity.

This said, many local businesses are gearing up for the holidays, being creative with their offers, and these local businesses you love can’t depend on big national marketing spends to remind you how meaningful your support is to them, or stay top of mind. This is why it is important to flex your "Can I buy this small or locally?" muscle.

Side note: If you or someone you know was laid off, check this out​

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As you'd offered on Facebook, will you end up doing a free local workshop to help business owners now?

I absolutely would love to host a workshop or start another movement to help businesses brainstorm and workshop marketing, increasing margins, foot traffic, and collaboration ideas. I will be putting something together soon.

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What would you tell a local resident who feels the risk of not shopping small doesn’t affect them because they're cool just using their Amazon credit card and figure someone else will step up to shop at the brick-and-mortars?

When I owned a local business, there were months that a kind customer’s $20 purchase was a make-or-break moment for us which meant we could pay the store’s electric bills.

I don’t think that everyone has this first-hand perspective and I don't expect them to, but that is why I am sharing it. Even your small purchases absolutely matter.

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How you can buy local or support local, some tips:

• I recommend that if there are local businesses you LOVE, please take a minute to share about them with friends, tell people about them on your social media platform of choice. Tell people your favorite places to buy locally often, not just during the holidays.

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• If you prefer to buy online, support small and local retailers, artists, restaurants and creators’ online offers. Choose the community you want to see exist with the purchases you already need to make by buying locally.

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• If you have the choice to even make 1-2 gifts or experiences locally focused this year, do it. Lean in. It’s one of the most important ways to keep the businesses you love alive and well. It’s the best way to keep our community unique from everywhere else in the world.

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Have a great weekend. Let me know if you found this interesting!

Lauren V. Davis ​P.S. Curious about working together? See what my clients say. I would love to show you the encouragement and energy you deserve. ​ Want to chat or brainstorm your business? ​Book a call to chat!​

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