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| Pledge to Buy Local: I pledge to make every effort to buy goods and services from locally owned businesses. If, for some reason, a locally owned business is not an option, I will look for locally owned franchises and/or nationally owned operations who I know support my community through public service or donations to local not-for-profits. By doing so, I can help keep the money I earn and spend in my community and support those who support me and those around me. |
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| Why shop locally? |
| How boring would Urbana, Champaign and Campustown be if we had the exact same stores and restaurants as every other community in America!? We need locally owned book stores, record stores, clothing shops, grocery stores, restaurants, and even video stores, to make things interesting -- and to make our community special. |
| Whenever I go to a new place I like to visit the local book stores, records stores, and restaurants -- they give me a sense of the character of the town. I enjoy going to Evanston because of Bookman's Alley, Springfield has Recycled Records, and Iowa City is home to Devotay. If all they had was Barne's & Noble, Best Buy and Chili's there would be little reason for going there... I could go to those places here (but don't, because we have far better places). |
| Think about this: At one time, campustown was a destination -- you could spend a whole day here. There were records stores, book stores, movie theaters, video arcades, and even a few live music venues. Now there are a few text book stores and a lot of restaurants. Granted, you could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on campus but you would be hard pressed to find a way to fill the time in between your meals. What happened to all the cool shops? |
| So, please support locally owned businesses -- they really do make our community a much more interesting place to be. If you need some help getting started, or just want to know what's out there, I've compiled an incomplete list of locally owned businesses in the Urbana-Champaign area. See if you can find someplace new and different to visit this week... |
| Btw, if you are interested, I found an old map of Campustown I made soon after we opened. Have a look and count how many of these places are still here. |
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Resources
• The Shop Local Pledge
• Locally owned businesses in Urbana, Champaign, and Campustown
• Links to other support local business initiatives
• Books and movies on supporting local businesses
• Top Ten Reason to Shop Locally
• More random thoughts on the subject |
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