Local last-minute shopping

Happy December 22th! Three shopping days left until the first day of Christmas. Are you done yet? Whether you've got a lot or a little money to spend before December 25, why not consider spending that money locally?

It's true you might not get as much bang for your buck spending money at a locally-owned business. Why? Because big-box retailers are taking over our economy, and can get stuff so cheaply they make it impossible for smaller fish to compete in price wars. Smaller fish who live in your neighborhood, send their kids to your schools, pay local taxes, and create jobs from the ground up.

Since the tradition of exchanging gobs of gifts with everyone on the planet on Christmas was created entirely by the retail industry, I wonder what the acceptable, appropriate number of presents is to have under a tree. Maybe by shopping locally there are 18 presents instead of 20 presents to open on Christmas day. How much difference does that really make?

One such bastion of local talent and passion is Pocatello's co-op, located on 1st street in the rapidly developing warehouse district. “Co-op” means “co-operative;” as in teamwork, as in nonprofit. My first experience with a co-op was the Duck Soup Co-op in DeKalb Illinois, which as a college English minor I took to mean “as in a chicken coop.” I later learned I could become a member of this funky, interesting market and get a discount, and even more so if I worked at the co-op a few hours a week.

So the Pocatello Co-op, or natural foods market, whichever term you prefer, operates in this same manner. It is a community market available to anyone, and if you pay $150 you become a member for life and get 7% off forever--even more if you work at the co-op a few hours a week. You don't become a member like you become a member of an exclusive club. Because what merchant thinks “no,no--you don't belong, please take your money somewhere else” is a sound business philosophy?

Whether you become a member to help run, maintain, and grow this nonprofit shopping venture or not, the Pocatello Co-op is a clearinghouse of regionally and locally-produced goods—local food for your table, local artisan gifts for under your tree.

Money spent at a co-op stays at a co-op—all the extra money brought in goes towards growing and expanding the types of services that only an organic, community-minded market can do. And money spent in a local region stays in a local region—there isn't a headquarters across the country or world where all the real profits go.

It is a true mark of a healthy community to be self-sustaining. Where it doesn't need the help of distant corporate empires to give out needed services and jobs. So in the next few days as you drive in and out of parking lots, decide if there is a local shop that's caught your eye or you know deserves your business. Then spend some of that last-minute shopping money (providing, of course, that you are managing your holiday finances in a healthy and sane manner) on a few nice gifts from a local merchant to open Christmas morning, even if the person opening them will be you. Onward!