Small Business Saturday ~ Shopping Local Stats

It's that time of year again ~ the holiday shopping season has begun and judging by the mall parking lots on Black Friday, it's going to be a busy one. Have you considered where you shop? If you haven't you should. Here's a few stats to show how you can play an important role in your community by shopping small independently owned businesses! 

I know you've heard it before but shopping at locally owned small businesses really can make a difference in your community. You might ask how and this photo below shows the story. Consider a small business like mine. When I need to get something printed, I used my local printer Ed at Document Depot. When I need to get one of my 4 delivery vans fixed, I use a local garage ~ Fowlers in Princeton - Gary is the best! When I buy my yummy chapsticks that we give out to our customers, I use Jim at Browndog Marketing. Each of the business has employees who work for them, so my purchases help keep people employed. So you get the idea. Supporting me means I support other small business. 

So let's talk flowers. Have you ever ordered from Proflowers? Did you know that when you order from them, not one penny of your purchase stays in your local community. They ship flowers FedEx from a big warehouse. They have so many ~ who knows where it is and who works there. Is this what you envision when you order flowers for a loved one? A box dropped at the door? 

This is what our flowers look like, hand arranged and hand delivered

Ordering flowers directly from a retail florist is so easy these days. There's no reason at all to use big order gathers like Teleflora.com, 1800flowers.com or even Proflowers. Just google Florist Near Me or Florists in a certain town and lots of options pop up. Speaking directly to the shop that will be making the delivery helps you get the freshest flowers possible. Every small floral shop has a website these days. You can look to see what they offer, order directly online or call them for personal assistance. If you are afraid to do this, why not let your trusted local florist make the relay for you or ask them for the name of a shop they are familiar with? You'll keep the sale local and save money. 

Did you know that when you order flowers from these larger operations that they charge you a $15.99 service fee? That is not the delivery fee, it's a service fee on top of the shipping/delivery and flower costs. Wow, imagine how many beautiful flowers your local florist can add to your design!

There you have it, a reason to shop local and to find a local florist when you need flowers. Thank you to all our customers for allowing us to be in business for 30 years!!