We might not have the freedom to visit all of our favourite local shops right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still love local. Many of our local shops and suppliers are working hard to support their communities during the lockdown by diversifying, offering delivery services, food boxes and other services but here are a few other suggestions to help your favourite local store during this time.
Head online
The shops might be closed or running a restricted service, so why not find your favourite suppliers and shops online? Many of them will be on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If they have a website, why not spend some time looking through their products and order a few if they have an online shop?
Don’t forget, you can find loads of our members’ social media accounts by checking who we’re following!
Write reviews
This isn’t going to last forever and we’ll be back to our usual shopping habits soon (we hope) so if you’ve had a really good experience with a local shop, supplier or met some great food and drink producers at a market, leave them a review! It’ll not only help you pass the time, but it’ll also help them when things get back to usual.
See what they’re offering
There are queues at supermarkets and some items are restricted, so why not see what your favourites are offering. Many independent stores have stepped in to help out where the bigger ones can’t. Cafes, restaurants and pubs are offering a takeaway service, while distillers have started their own range of hand sanitiser for instance. Head online or pick up the phone and see if what your favourites are doing – it’ll help you keep your cupboards full and help them too!
It isn’t just food, some of our local and independent shops have their own merchandise too, such as bags, stickers, badges and travel mugs, that sort of thing. While they’re having to close or limit their openings, show them you care by buying a few bits, not only are you helping to support them, but you’re also advertising to others how great they are!
You can see which businesses are offering additional services or changing the way they work during the lockdown here.
Do you have any other suggestions of things to help support our local shops and suppliers? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
