Don't be one of the sheeple

At SGB we always comment on how different our busy holiday season is from year to year. Some years everyone orders early, some years we're hit with an avalanche of orders at the last minute. Sometimes we sell tons of gift baskets with a local theme, and others hardly at all. I was really encouraged that this holiday season Central New York products were far and away what we sold the most of. It seemed like everyone was acutely aware of the difficult economic situation and decided to circle the wagons and support local businesses. It IS important, and as a small business owner nobody understands this better than me.

I am always baffled (and I've posted on this topic before) that with all the outstanding local businesses we have in this area that people are still lined up like sheep at national chain restaurants and stores to spend their hard earned money on a mediocre product and ambivalant service. Stella's vs. Denny's, Boom Babies vs. H & M, Joey's vs. Olive Garden, Sweet on Chocolate vs. Fanny Farmer, Sound Garden vs. Best Buy.....the list goes on. I guess it's because you really have to think about what you're doing if you want to break those habits. The mall, the chain restaurants - they are the easy, default answer. You don't have to think too hard. And I admit, sometimes I really don't want to think too hard.

Since becoming a small business owner myself, I have made a real effort to think about my choices and the impact they make. Recently I took it one step further - I switched from my big, impersonal regional bank (to whom I was paying a fortune in bank fees, BTW) to a very small, grassroots, Syracuse based (okay, Syracuse ONLY) credit union - Cooperative Federal. Now, it doesn't look look like any bank you've ever seen before. It's teeny-tiny. It has no drive through and no parking. But - they are super friendly, very accomodating and guess what? All the money really stays in Syracuse. They help people buy their first houses and local businesses get off the ground. With my old bank, I felt like whenever I asked something of them the answer was "no" or "it's going to cost you $30". At the credit union, the attitude is, "What can we do to help you?" Refreshing.