"Shop local" doesn't mean a mall
11/21/2007
That hard-earned cash might be burning a hole in your pocket, but why not douse the flames by helping your neighbors?
This Friday, thousands of people will flock to shopping malls throughout Ventura County. Cars will pack the lots surrounding the Simi Valley Town Center, the Oaks in Thousand Oaks, Oxnard’s Esplanade Shopping Center and the Pacific View Mall in Ventura, to name just a few of the dozens of malls, plazas and retail centers in the county.
Sure, you could join the crowds too. You could stir your blood pressure into a frenzy, develop a bad case of road rage and fight to the death over the last case of Aquadots (actually, you might want to scratch the Aquadots unless you’re buying gifts for someone with a hankering for GHB — the toy has been pulled from the shelves over reports that the dots’ coating metabolizes into the notorious coma-inducing date-rape drug). You could even cancel out all the relaxation of a pleasant Thanksgiving Day, wake up at midnight, and stampede into an electronics store hunting for iPods and Wiis.
Ask yourself a few questions, though: Do you really want to? Does that show any love or understanding of the people for whom you are buying gifts? Will your community be any better for it?
The first two questions you’re going to have to answer yourself. Although we’d like to make a pitch for those fortunate enough to get a day off Friday to actually enjoy it, you’re going to have to make your own decisions about how much you value a stress-free day. You’re also going to know better than us how well your family and significant others and friends recognize the amount of thought and effort you put into a gift.
As to the latter question, it’s doubtful the millions you spend in malls will do anything to help your community. Certainly, local governments salivating over tax proceeds will argue the revenues from your spending will be put to good use paving your streets, locking up your criminals and beautifying your neighborhoods. They are right, to an extent. If you absolutely must spend money at a national retailer, do it in your own city so some of the tax revenues generated from your purchasing are spent by the people you vote for. (You do vote, don’t you? Turnout at Ventura’s recent election suggest that your answer more likely than not is “no.”)
But we offer a better solution. Spend that dough in your hometown, at local retailers. Buy your gifts from businesses owned by people who live down the street from you, whose kids play on your kids’ soccer teams. Shop with those people who are going to take the money you spend to pay for services from your law firms, to fix their cars at your garages and to pay for the teeth cleanings you perform.
Don’t worry, the tax revenues will still be there as long as you spend locally. Your options aren’t limited, either. While the Gift Guide in this week’s edition of the Reporter gives some ideas, there are countless other local places to shop throughout the county. Whether you stroll the arcade along Ojai Avenue, pop into your neighborhood used-book store, check out what’s emerging at the heart of Oxnard, explore Old Town Camarillo, visit the eclectic stores of Midtown and Downtown Ventura, ply the streetscape of Thousand Oaks Avenue or cruise down Main Street in Santa Paula, you’ve only scratched the surface of what Ventura County has to offer gift-givers. Local retailers dot neighborhoods and business districts these cities as well as other communities like Moorpark, Simi Valley, Oak View, Port Hueneme and Fillmore.
If you’re searching for a unique treasure for those people you treasure, you’re much more likely to find it around the corner than in a mall.
If you care about your community, invest in it.
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