Groups Try to Shift Holiday Shoppers

The eighth annual Shift Your Shopping holiday campaign is underway, encouraging individuals and businesses to "shift" more of their holiday shopping, entertaining and dining to locally owned and independent businesses. The campaign continues through December, as a way to build a tradition that strengthens local economies, expands local employment, nurtures a sense of community, and provides a more relaxed, fun, and rewarding holiday shopping experience.

Monadnock Buy Local participated in Shift Your Shopping with partners around the nation in 2010 and is inviting like-minded organizations to grow the campaign in the Granite State. Every dollar spent at a local, independent business returns 2-3 times more dollars to the community compared to a dollar spent at a non-local business.  Sustained "buy local" campaigns have demonstrated their capacity to shift sizable portions of spending from chains and online businesses to local entrepreneurs, according to the Institute for Local Self Reliance. ILSR indexes key local economy studies at ILSR.org.

Partners to date include Monadnock Buy Local, Local First Alliance, White Mountain Independents, NH Food Alliance, Northeast Organic Farming Assoc. of NH, Stay Work Play, Sustainability Institute, atHOME Magazine, Portsmouthnh.com, Seacoast Eat Local, Belletetes, Inc., Bric & Brac, Country Bridals, Cove of Treasures, Farmers' Market of Keene, Food Connects, Givey's Barber Shop in Jaffrey, Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, Jaffrey Civic Center, Keene First Friday Art Hop, Monadnock Arts Alive, Monadnock Food Co-op, Monadnock Sustainability Network, Monadnock Time Exchange, The Melamine Cup, and TEAM Jaffrey.

To keep your shopping limited to New England Made products, visit Made in New England Expo December 8 & 9 in downtown Manchester at the DoubleTree by Hilton Expo Center.