Keeping Louisville Weird
I’ve lived my whole life in Louisville, Kentucky, but I’ve traveled many places – India, New England, Old England, all over the US and Europe, among others. There are some things I wish I could change about Louisville, sure. I wish we could support a pro sports team, didn’t have such horrible summer air quality, and had more independent booksellers. But that’s not what I’m going to talk about now.
I’m here to say that by enthusiastically supporting your local culture, you’re preserving something special. In the world right now, big businesses are spreading like crazy. I’m no economist, and I don’t have an MBA, but I’ve seen the Domino’s Pizza joints in India. I’ve seen Gaps and American Eagles in every single mall of every American city I’ve been in. You can’t swing a cat without smacking a Starbucks, a Wal-Mart, or a JC Penney’s. Nobody needs to worry about the big businesses. They can take care of themselves just fine with their big marketing budgets, cult following and financial abundance. There’s nothing wrong with these stores. (So please do not write me and tell me that I’m being too hard on Wal-Mart and you love Wal-Mart.) But if that’s all there is in your neighborhood, you have to realize you are, on some levels, giving them permission to choose what’s available to you as a consumer.
Small businesses deserve a chance and lots of support. Instead of trying to offer one of everything to 85% of the population, they offer many of a few things to 15% of the population. What you sacrifice in convenience by shopping at a small store you’ll more than make up for in selection and service. Small businesses keep jobs in this country. They hire a diverse spectrum of employees – from a high-school student’s first job to a retired person’s side job. When a large corporation goes out of business, it takes many jobs with it, but a small business doesn’t have such a huge negative impact on a community.
Here’s an example: I attended college in a small town in Kentucky. There were hardly any mom-and-pop stores there, or even smaller national chains, having not been able to compete with the local Biggie Cheap Super Mart (names changed to protect the innocent). I like one particular magazine – which Biggie Cheap Super Mart does not carry. Neither did any of the other shops of any kind in town. I was told that this magazine was not popular enough for Biggie Cheap Super Mart to put on their shelves. A conundrum! At school, I did not have access to this information because I didn’t count for enough motivation for Biggie Cheap Super Mart to purchase said magazine to keep on their shelves.
If you look around where you live, and all you see is a long line of stores that you could find – in pretty much the same sequence and layout – in any of 5,000 towns across America, consider working on keeping your town weird.
There are lots of ways to keep your town weird. Here are a few:
1. Seek out and support locally owned businesses. Look for restaurants, boutiques, bookstores, and grocery stores owned by the people in your neighborhood. Yes, they’re more expensive sometimes. So maybe you can buy a few things here and there at locally owned businesses, and do the bulk of your shopping elsewhere.
2. Find the things your hometown does bestâÂ?¦and do them. Louisville has a little hobby called “The Derby” so I make sure to throw down the first Saturday in May. We have one of the top five largest fireworks displays in the country and one of the top three biggest state fairs. What does your town do?
3. Check out your historical landmarks, museums, and parks. Most of them are free, or charge a small fee. For $8, you can come see how Louisville Slugger bats are made, and get a little mini Slugger souvenir to boot.
4. If you have to go national, find companies that give a little. If you must go to Biggie Cheap Super Mart, research the companies whose values and ethics you support. Make sure they’re putting their money where their mouths are. The Better Business Bureau, the Internet, and the news should be helpful resources. For example, Whole Foods Market is a national chain, but they have an environmental philosophy I like so I will shop there sometimes.
5. Support other locals. Go to art fairs, free-to-the-public events, and the theater. Buy lemonade and shop your neighbor’s yard sales. When you send a gift out of state, send something from your area. For example, my mom always sends gifts from Louisville Stoneware or Hadley Pottery.
6. Weird-up your own hometown. So your town is totally un-weird, nothing but malls and Quik-E-Marts as far as the eye can see? Then a little DIY Weird is in order. Start a group, a club, an organization. The Organic Eaters Club, Susie’s Knitting Nook Knitting Circle, Friends of Llamas. Have your friends over for a night of authentic Tanzanian cooking. Whatever you want! If you can’t think of something on your own, start a local chapter of something. If the hometown won’t bring the weird, bring the weird to the hometown.
I hope you are inspired to do a little civic duty and get out there, wherever you are, and jump into the weird. Your homework today is to find a new place in your town, somewhere you’ve never been and spend some time there. It could be a park, an out-of-the-way jazz club, or an ethnic restaurant.
