Shop like you shrimp ... locally

Main Street worth your attention

You heard it every day during the presidential election: We have to help Main Street as much as we help Wall Street.

For once, those national politicians sounded like they actually had a clue — apparently one side effect of full-scale economic meltdown is brief moments of clarity.

But you have to realize that Main Street is far too important to leave its fate in the hands of government: It's up to shoppers. And sometimes Main Street is called King Street or Coleman Boulevard, Savannah Highway or Rivers Avenue.

Mike Able understands this all too well. Some people want only local shrimp; Able wants to shop at local stores.

"I'll make an effort to buy stuff locally. I think it's important; it's where we live," Able says. "Local businesses are the workhorse of this country. They contribute to the community, they contribute to the local tax base."

Able knows this because he is the owner of Haddrell's Point Tackle & Supply. It's the kind of place where they know their customers' names, the area, and what local folks need. It's the kind of place where, when you buy something, they tell you they appreciate your business — and it's not part of a script. They mean it.

Local businesses treat the community right. They help local charities, take care of their regulars.

Perhaps the best thing about shopping local, however, is this: When you buy fishing gear or wading boots from a local business, that money stays here in the Lowcountry.

For years, politicians have gotten chapped lips smooching up to small businesses; they brag about cutting their taxes, helping them survive. It wins votes because people care about small business. But when these smooth-talkers get elected, they start throwing tax money — money paid by small businesses — to bring in a Cabela's or another big-box store to compete with the locals. So much for the free market. When was the last time the state toted a wheelbarrow of cash to a local business if it promised to create 30 jobs?

Some people will avoid local stores by saying that the chains save them money. That's largely a myth, as much of the alleged savings are just so much hype. Even if they are a little cheaper, remember the one true rule of consumerism: You get what you pay for. Save 50 cents and it'll end up costing the community a whole lot more in the long run.

A good example of this is the independent book store, the poster child of a lost art. The chains have run most of these places out of business, and that's a real shame.

Michelle List, owner of All Books and Company in Summerville, spends much of her time tracking down hard-to-find, out-of-print books and movies for her customers. She knows her customers well enough to recommend specific books that will appeal to them. And she doesn't need a search engine or corporate headquarters to do it.

As you might expect, List is a big proponent of buying local. She says that when people shop on the Internet or through catalogues, avoiding sales tax, they are literally starving local governments. It's the kind of thing that could lead to higher taxes (that is, if politicians hadn't banned tax increases a few years back). Now, it just means more cuts in service.

List is doing her part to reverse the trend.

"My rule of shopping is that you go to your home town, then your home county and then your home state before you step outside," she says.

It's a pretty good rule of thumb, and one that everybody in the Lowcountry ought to consider during this very important shopping season. Who are you going to help: the chain that takes its profits back to a corporate office somewhere else, or a small business that is going to invest back in this community?

That's not to denigrate Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. Those places are great, and they offer things that no other company can (say, 500-pound bags of cheese puffs). But, truth is, those big stores are going to be just fine — well, except for Circuit City. So maybe this year, instead of one-stop shopping, you spread it around.

Help the local economy, and you might just help everyone else.

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com