It's time to leave the house

A love letter to brick and mortar shops

The ultimate charming small shop

I love a small business. I love a brick and mortar shop. Sometimes, because all of the shop owners are so cool, I wonder “Am I trying to buy their friendship?!” Answer: probably but who cares?!

I want to buy party supplies and ethically-made sweaters and taper candles and Christmas wreaths and honey and art supplies and doughnuts. I want to browse their shelves. I want to admire their quirky displays. I want to say hi, how are you, what’s new. Buying local isn’t charity, it’s just more fun.

Rom Shop

I want to walk past them on the way home, with the lights all aglow and feel like I’m living in a movie. I’m ready to bring some main character energy to the season and to do that, I need to be waltzing in and out of shops, not clicking around on Amazon until my eyes start watering, ya know?

There’s been some trash talk about Albany’s Lark Street neighborhood recently, mostly to do with crime and visible homelessness. These are real problems that need compassionate, thoughtful interventions to solve. But criminalizing our unhoused neighbors? Conflating them with recent spats of violence, ignoring the fact that the unhoused are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators? Nah, that’s not it. That’s not how we take care of each other.

And we know that hollowing out a neighborhood or city doesn’t make it safer. As patron saint Jane Jacobs says, we need eyes on the street. We need people around. We need cities built for people! And yes, people shop so we also need cities that you can do your shopping in!

The thrill of it — touching that cashmere bandana and deciding you absolutely must have it, no matter its impracticality. Trying clothes on instead the dismal online order-delivery-return shipment loop. Getting inspired by the shop’s music selection and making your own playlist. Immersing yourself in the VIBE. Going to the beloved indie movie theater and getting a coffee and slice of banana bread sort of vibe.

The Balloonary

Honestly, I also want some chain stores around. If I’m buying something from, I don’t know, Loft or Athleta or wherever, I’d rather buy that from a real store than order it online. It’s less convenient, sure. But I want those IRL options! Online shopping has gotten so… blech. The idling trucks everywhere, the waste, the endless options, the lacklusterness of it all. It’s not even fun anymore.

We’ve tried removing all of the so-called “friction” from our lives — the browsing, checking out, getting to and from — and it actually kind of sucks. The Uberfication of it all. The tappity-tap on the screen of it all.

It’s time to leave the house.¹

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

To pump you up, here are posts from three of my favorite small businesses about investing in community:

From Flower Scout:

…our world is richer with creative small businesses in it, our cities more interesting, our discourse more diverse.

From Yes Folk:

If you have the privilege to shop this holiday szn, shop where it matters please. Keep $ in the community, support the funky work of your friends’ wild dreams, invest in art, mutual-aid spaces and places that offer more than a transaction.

From Rom Shop:

We didn’t open our business in this neighborhood because it was a good market, in fact quite the opposite. We opened our business in this neighborhood because it is OUR neighborhood, and we felt a burning sense of responsibility to contribute to it and to bring sustainable options to an area where they are so often out of reach.

I write this as someone who has three different packages being delivered this week so I’m not throwing stones here. Just dreaming a little about bringing the pizazz back to our lives and our cities.

1. Article by Diana Lind, a line from which I borrowed for the title of this post :)