Do you support local companies?
 

Browsing the Hallmark store today over lunch to get my wife a Valentine's Day card, I wondered how many people in KC would not purchase a Hallmark product even if it was more expensive. I'm sure my limited spending won't make much of a difference, but I nearly always buy local if I can. I will buy Hallmark, eat at Applebee's over Chilis (even though it sucks), buy a Garmin GPS and use Sprint cellphone service.

Others might disagree. I have a good friend who works at Sprint. He said it's a known fact inside the company that their marketshare here in KC ("share of decisions") is no greater or worse than their national average. So people in KC won't bother supporting Sprint which is a huge economic engine here. I think that's crazy. I assume the same studies would bear out for Hallmark or Garmin.


Anyway, just wanted to get your thoughts on this.

I don't say that I "try" to use local. But sometimes it's just the best deal $$ wise.

we were going to the WWI museaum but Wal-Mart's selection of guns and people that stink like trenches was way cheaper.

I support single mothers. I tip strippers well.

You support Applebee's as a local firm?

I always try to go local if possible.

I go local if it comparable. I'll pay a little more, particularly if I have to travel, but they have to earn it. I'm not getting any premium locally for my stuff.

The ****

Yes. Almost always buy local and small and will pay more. Thankfully it's a huge trend in our town, and our store reaps the benefits. Also, if you live in KC and don't buy Hammerpress greeting cards, you suck. ;)

Can you even buy a card that doesn't say Hallmark on it?

I do....

Jesus. There is an amazing cottage industry of letterpress card companies right now.

My indignation is kind if feigned, but we own a store that sells a lot of this shit. Ironically my wife just got headhunted by Hallmark yesterday because of her work in the paper industry. She declined. Heh.

Look up Hammerpress (Kansas city based press that is awesome), sycamore street, rifle, sapling, smock, 1canoe2. All are awesome small presses.

I give every local business a chance when I have the opportunity but if they give bad service or sell a bad product I won't use them again.

Are they hiring writers? I think I could be a really good greeting card writer.

"Get well soon, unless of course you're hoping to die."

"Happy Valentine's Day. Be mine forever, or until that hot blonde neighbor wants me."

"Merry Christmas if you're not Jewish, in which case I'm sorry for your people's torment."

I buy Boulevard products. So yeah.

Topsys Popcorn!

The poll is running 12-1. How many of them use Sprint? Or bought a Garmin?

That's pretty close to the humor of a lot of the indie card lines.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/shopsaplingpress

I support local small business. Applebees sucks. Sprint sucks in KC. I loved Sprint for 7 years in Houston. Moved to KC and calls drop, phones don't ring when called, coverage is spotty. I loathe Sprint in town. I'm guessing the only reason their market share in KC is the same as other markets is because so many employees and contractors utilize the service.

I do shop Owen lumber over Home Depot and Lowes. I very rarely eat at a chain restaurant - always locally owned establishments.

If I can buy local I will.

If I can support conservative leaning companies I do that too.

When I had my motorcycles I took them strictly to Smithers. Local shop, outstanding work

I try to buy local when I can. Joslins jewelry is another great place. And The Pen Place (I'm a sucker for fine fountain pens)

Being in the direct mail advertising business I support the companies who support me,some are local,some are national.

Sure, but my definition of local doesn't include national chains.

If anyone is ever in Springfield, MO, and wants to support a local restaurant, Cielito Lindo on North Glenstone is a great, local, family owned Mexican Restaurant.

No to Sprint. I had 7 lines with them for 15 years. Finally had enough with their poor coverage and even worse customer service. Switched out 2 years ago.

I do try to buy local when I can. Farmers market in the summer is good too.

I only see bands that come to Sandstone.

agree

Those are my thoughts too. I voted "no" in the poll based on what his description of a local business was, but I will usually prefer a mom & pop shop to a big chain when the products are comparable.

I do outside of Applebee's. Can't do it. Sucks too bad.

Basically I try to give any local company the benefit of the doubt until they prove to be a pile of hot garbage such as Applebee's.

Then again in that area I like BBQ anyway so I'm always supporting local!

You should host the next ChiefsPlanet gathering there. How is the cashew chicken at that location?

Don't give a **** where its made. Price + quality is what makes me buy something.
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Sprint ****ing sucks. Verizon for me.

That's a winner.

I'll support local if it's worth it. Just because something is local doesn't mean it's worth my business. But I do make an effort to go local over asshole corporations.

Hate it when people go to check stuff out at the local store and then go buy same product online. The guy working at the store down the street is your neighbor.

Do people still buy GPS?

ROFL I would totally buy greetings cards from the Rainman chronicles.

I support Hallmark for sure and will try to make an extra effort to get a Hallmark card if I can. Fortunately, they are fairly readily available in the stores that I shop in the Sacramento area. They've made lists of America's top employers and have done great things in Kansas City, including the development of Crown Center, one of this country's most significant private-sector urban redevelopment efforts. I know they also make an effort at farming out some of their printing work to small businesses: one of my friend's used to get jobs from them for their minority-owned print shop. I like how that company does things and their commitment to producing a quality product. Those are more important to me than the fact that the company is local. But when a company is local, you tend to get a better handle on how well they do things and their commitment to quality. It seems to me that Boulevard Brewing is a good company, too, but I'm no longer a resident of KC, so my hunches may not be as good in their case.

Hah. I just realized that Hallmark is a "local" chain for KC, so my bitching about people choosing Hallmark cards over Hammerpress was a little off the mark.

I'm with you, though as far as not considering large corporations to be "local." I live in NWA, but I don't consider Wal-Mart to be a local company. Even though they do a ton of great things for our area, I don't support them over other competitors (like Target).

Sapling Press:
http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/562....249661228.jpg

http://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/562....196388833.jpg

http://img2.etsystatic.com/000/0/562....226004150.jpg

yes, I do quite a bit of local biz. probably spent $40k locally this year. I buy from the outdoor market every weekend and I buy local meats/milk, dog food, fencing, gear, labor... and I do this intentionally.

So we'll go ahead and mark you down as "No".....

I support my local mom and pop phone providers.

Sprint's service is truly garbage. I pay $30 a month for 4G I have no access too where I live, and I have for some time. If it wasn't for the $30 discount I get every month that offsets it, I would bounce for Verizon in a heartbeat that already has 4G where I live. Wifi access almost everywhere I go allows me to choose being frugal and going with the lowest overall cost from my carrier, and Sprint has truly unlimited data going for them. At some point though, I can see the relationship ending unless they do a major upgrade to their towers out here sooner rather than later.

no you don't

Sprint sold out to China...

**** Sprint, They really do suck. I voted yes that I buy local. Sprint is not local (anymore) and they suck.

So you pretty much stick to Wal-Mart?

What exactly, am I "buying".

**** sprint

I do have a Gramin, but not Sprint (anymore). They just suck compared to the Service I get with AT&T at work (downtown) and at home (Lees Summit).

But AT&T sucks balls too. If you're driving North or South on I-435 where it intersects with 350, you can almost be guaranteed to drop the call. I stuck with it (meaning I worked through all their levels of excuses and weak techs) and got them to look into it, and after a LOT of work and phone time, their weak ****ing answer was, "the topology in that area creates a lot of signal shadow." And they don't intend to do anything about it. LOL, you know you have a deadzone, make it hard as **** for a customer to relate it to you and all but prove it, then you just blown them off.

However, since it's all but awesome elsewhere, I'll deal with it and warn folks when I drive through AT&T's failure zone!

Maybe I will go back to Sprint! Just can't do Verizon, can't deal with not getting email or texts while I'm on the phone! Gay in 2013 to still have THAT issue!

**** you AT&T!

Those are awesome. Can you buy online?

It's funny that Sprint sucks in KC but down here in Texas Sprint kicks all sorts of ass. Never had a single issue and during high usage events like SXSW or ACL when others lose service I am always chugging along just fine.

And how is Garmin local? Aren't they Swiss?

Yeah. Search Sapling Press. They have an etsy store.

sorry, I don't understand..
those are all big chains.
are they headquartered in KC?

I try to by none chain for eating out other than that
I feed the corporat beast

I won't go to Applebee's just because their food sucks and I worked there when I was in college at UMKC. They are the blandest and cheapest of the chain restaurants that I can remember, although they did keep their corporate stores in the KC area very clean because their head quarters were in KC. I have AT&T but there's probably just as many AT&T/SBC employees in the KC area as Sprint employees so both could be considered a "local company". Didn't know Garmin was out of KC but I do prefer Garmin over the other brands.

Per others' comments, I would probably clarify my preferences in order as preferring independents and smaller businesses over chains and larger businesses. The local part really matters less than the small and independent part. I guess that means that I prefer to buy local regardless of where I'm at since those types of businesses are by definition local with respect to their location.

Maybe I would prefer local independents over non-local independents when buying online, but I generally don't have that information at hand when I'm buying.

And of course, this all assumes roughly similar quality and value. I'm not going to pay 25% more just because someone is small and independent if they don't offer something to offset it. However, I can usually expect better services and similar or better quality with a small independent.