When Going Local Gets Hard

We’re about halfway through and so far in this experiment, I’m happy to report, I’ve been able to do all of my spending with local businesses. However, some real and significant challenges have arisen. In the interest of not writing a puff-piece on going local, and trying to keep it real, here are some of the issues I’ve faced:

Hours

The most significant challenge I’ve had to overcome is that many of the local businesses I try to support are not open as often or as long as some non-local businesses. My schedule does not make this much easier. I work 50 hours a week at my day job and 20-30 on Somerville Local First. I work until 8:00 on Tuesday/Thursday and 6:00 on Monday/Friday, plus most Saturdays 9-5 and Sundays 12-4.

So the other night, when it was a Million Degrees and we wanted some Ice Cream at 10:00 PM, what was I to do? The Dairy Farm @ Kickass Cupcakes was closed. Johnny’s Foodmaster was closed. And my choice was this: Go to Shaws or go to a convenience store. I chose the local option and paid a premium (with less selection). I’m personally OK with this, but realize that many others may not make that choice. Thus far, the lack of open hours from local biz has been the biggest issue for me.

Knowing where to go

It’s gotten to the point where I’m starting to become a Somerville local business maven: i.e. I know where to go for most goods and services if one wants a local business. However, finding local alternatives is still one of the challenges, even for me. Knowing where to go for blank CDs, invitations, music – things I don’t buy all the time, can be challenging. I’ve taken to using a few different resources, with varying levels of success. The local business directories online have been the most helpful for me so far: Citysquares.com, yelp.com, and citysearch.com all offer local business listings, with ratings, reviews and more. They are a great place to start if you want to search local. When that doesn’t work, I’ve used Google.

Somerville is a progressive community, so I feel that most of us probably will gravitate towards the web. Other local first networks have printed hard copy business directories. We’re not sure if we’re going to go this route in Somerville. I wonder: Would a printed directory of local biz be helpful for you?

Keeping it in Somerville

If you can’t tell or don’t know, I love Somerville. That’s why I live there. That’s why I’m working on Somerville Local First.

However, Being the young-ish (30 in 2 weeks) urbanite that I am, I’m starting to find it both challenging and, at times, frustrating to constrain myself within the city borders. I am glad that this is a component of the experiment because it’s helping me learn more about the community. I’m meeting business owners and I’m discovering treasures every week, but I don’t think it’s transferable to real life for every situation. I mean, I like Cambridge, I like the South End…I kind of want to hang out there sometimes. But it’s only 90 days and in the end it’s worth it.

Now, there are also some positives to this that I’ve noticed. The local lifestyle has definitely kept my driving to a minimum. I have a physical condition, so biking and walking are difficult for me. Therefore when I get around, I really need to drive. By keeping it local, the amount that I drive is minimal. I am on pace to drive fewer than 8,000 miles this year. Also, though the perception is that it takes more time to shop locally, that hasn’t been the case for me. Two of my roommates and I got a week’s worth of groceries this week and according to the parking meter in Davis Square, it took us a total of 32 minutes. Not bad.

After McKinnons this week, we hit up The Farmers Bounty. They are a really unique place. They have fresh local produce and imported and specialty goods from India and Europe. Prices, again, were extremely competitive. I spent $11 there and got limes/lemons, 2 boxes of strawberries, onions and scallions.

Updates on rule-breaking

I’ve been trying but I’m still having a hard time with lunch. I’m just not good at making lunch enough and I am still getting takeout. I’m trying, but this has been a struggle for me.

Also, I visited a friend of mine this past weekend who lives in Jamacia Plain (which is just slightly behind Somerville as far as cool Boston neighborhoods go). Since I was there to visit her, we wanted to stay local. So I did spend like $20 in JP. I went to a great place for brunch, though the prices were WAY higher than my favs in the ‘ville. And I spent $6 at a thrift store – $2 for reading glasses (I’ve wanted to add this unnecessary accessory for a while) and $4 for two CDs, including Pure Funk. I also talked to a couple of business owners there about starting a local first in JP. It would be a great place to do something like that….

My peeps

I’ve been threatening them with it for a couple of weeks now, so I figured I’d start to write about my friends and their experiences with going local.

I am passionate about going local. Sometimes that means I walk a razor’s edge between encouragement and harassment, though playful it may be. I’ve even created a classic interjection: “That’s cool. Where’d you get it?” I’ve gotten feedback that people dread that one, though they usually tell me so with a smile.

In all seriousness, I’ve been really proud of how the people around me in my life have started to do more shopping locally. My roommate Sam went to Tags when he needed move-in materials like shelving and housewares. He also saved $16 by finding a bike bag he wanted online, and then ordering it through the local Somerville bike store. My other roommates Heather & Jonathan & I make weekly trips to Davis for McKinnons (and now Farmers Bounty) on Wednesdays. Even the editor of the Locavore Experiment, Matt Barsamian (or Mattbar as he is known), got into the act when he called me from Porter asking for an alternative to D&D.

I encourage you to encourage as well

Locally yours,
Joe G.

Necessities

There area lot of everyday items gave me some trouble at first. I mean, where am I supposed to get normal grocery store stuff, blank CDs, razor blades or deodorant locally? I previously went to a CVS for stuff like that, and most of the local pharmacies aren’t around anymore. There’s Skendarian Apotehecary in Cambridge, you may have seen their TV commercials. They are family owned for decades now, and one of the last independent pharmacies around. That said, these items are recurring needs, so I wanted to find somewhere in Somerville that would work.

I tried convenience stores, but the prices are WAY too high (huge surprise, I know). CVS, Shaws, Market Basket (regional chain) are out. The solution I settled upon was local chain grocer Johnny’s Foodmaster. They’ve been around for a long time, and even though they are a chain, they’re a local chain to me, with stores only in Eastern Massachusetts. Doing a little research, I found this on their website:

In 1947, John DeJesus Sr. opened his first food market in East Cambridge. Since then, Johnnie’s Foodmaster has been a successful family tradition.

Today, with John’s son John A. DeJesus at the helm, Foodmaster operates stores in Somerville, Medford, Revere, Charlestown, Arlington, Melrose, Lynn, South Weymouth, Whitman, as well as Johnnie’s Fresh Market in Brookline.

Foodmaster’s foundation for success lies in its dedication to providing the freshest foods with first-rate customer service, and an unwavering dedication to the communities that we serve.

So, they’re a chain, but the company is private and family owned. The stores operate in a close proximity to each other. Also, notice the wording at the end, ‘the communities that we serve’. Once again, the personal relationship between a local business and its community is completely different than that of a non-local business.

McKinnons

One of the most famous local businesses in Somerville is McKinnons. I’ve known about it for many years, but until recently had never ventured into the store. Part of it is my utter lack of cooking skills and interest. However, my roommates & I picked up a grill recently (free on Craigslist!) and have been using it 3-4 times a week since. So I thought this would be a perfect time to try out McKinnons, and what a great experience it was!

I went on a meat run (insert clever line here), to pick up food for memorial day weekend. I got the following:

-4 lbs of ground beef

-3.5 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast

-2 packages of sweet italian sausage

-2lbs of pork tenderloin

-1 package of fresh blueberries

So here are a few observations. McKinnons is pretty small, and when I was there it was really crowded. That said, I didn’t have the ‘on edge, anxious’ feeling I get sometimes when it’s really busy at a chain store. I tend to get antsy in that situation and really feel like I want to get out of there asap. At McKinnons, I just felt a different energy and, even though when I got in line there were 10 people in front of me, I felt a laid back and positive vibe. I know that’s subjective. But we’re not only doing this local thing for the good vibes, we’re also concerned about our checkbook. Most of us assume that items are MORE expensive locally. However, I did some research on these items using the Peapod website for Shaws to get comparative pricing. Check out this price comparison:

Mckinnons                        Peapod (Shaws)

Sausage                 $1.99 / lb                                $1.99 / lb

Ground Beef           $1.99 / lb                                $3.69 / lb

Chicken                   $1.99 / lb                                $4.49 / lb

Pork Tenderloin      $1.99 / lb                                $6.99 / lb

Blueberries              $1.99                                      $3.49

So here’s the quick math. @ McKinnons I spent just over $25. If I had bought the same products @ Shaws I would have paid $51!!! So, while there is definitely the perception that going local is more expensive, the reality in this case is that it is exactly the opposite.

The Local Vodka Cocktail

If you didn’t know, Somerville is home to over 30 different brands of Vodka. MS Walker Inc. http://www.mswalker.com/index.htm is a family owned business incorporated in 1933. They make a lot of ‘economy’ vodkas, which you may remember from your high school or college days (Check out this entertaining Urban Dictionary link: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rubinoff). That said, this is the perfect libation for my local experiment…SO, we had some friends over the other night and I volunteered to go to the liquor store. I went to Ball Square Liquors (This is a great spot that I will feature in a future post) and bought, among other things, a 1 liter (plastic) bottle of Rubinoff Citron Vodka.

I created the following concoction, which was a complete hit with my friends. You can increase or decrease the portions to suit your taste. The best part? All the ingredients (with the exception of a citrus twist, lemon or lime depending on your preference) are LOCALLY MADE. This fulfils rule #1 (Buy from a locally owned business) and Rule #2 (Buy locally made products). Cheers!

-2 parts Rubinoff Citron Vodka

-3 parts Polar Diet Orange Dry Soda (Polar soda is made in Worcester)

-1 part Mercury Lime Bubbly Water (Mercury brewing is in Ipswich)

-I slice lime/lemon

***Ice, stir and enjoy!****

That’s it for this post. Stay tuned next time for stories about my friends going local, another round of price comparisons and more!

Think Local, Shop Local,

Joe G.