Easy ways to support small businesses from the comfort of your home
I am usually one to succumb to the feeling that I can’t make much of a difference in the world. I don’t follow politics because I feel like my single vote won’t have an impact, especially in Massachusetts. I don’t normally pay attention to the news because my philosophy is that if I’m not devoting my life to solving the issues, becoming more aware of them would be unproductive and only bring me down.
Recently, I crawled out from under my rock to read the news about the new strain of coronavirus reaching the US. At first, my biggest concern was my asthma, which could make a respiratory illness more severe. I cancelled an upcoming vacation and stocked up on nonperishable food.
Eventually, I realized that asthma wasn’t the main reason I should be concerned about COVID-19. Even if I were asymptomatic, I could facilitate the spread of the virus to at-risk people. My downstairs neighbor is a precious, vivacious, elderly woman, and if I could help it, I would not be bringing the virus into our multi-family home. Fortunately, my job allows me to work from home, and within the week I decided to start staying home, my employer went from allowing, to encouraging, to requiring that everyone work from home.
Still, like a driver slowing down to see a car wreck on the side of the highway, I couldn’t look away from the news. Social distancing, while necessary to save millions of lives, is contributing to the emerging economic collapse. Millions of Americans need to interact with people in person to do their jobs. The stock market is plummeting; small businesses aren’t sure if they’ll see the other side of this crisis.
I felt like all I could do was stay home and watch the world burn.
Fortunately, while surrendered to idly scrolling through Instagram in my apartment, I saw a post by @goodnews_movement that got through to me that I could make a difference from a distance. It pointed out that you could buy a gift card to your favorite restaurant now and use it later when the pandemic is over. Since restaurants usually operate on small margins, a small contribution could make a big difference, and you can use the gift card later.
The first gift card I thought to buy was one from my hairdresser. She is her own small business, and I thought about how anxious she must be about making rent payments on a vacant salon space indefinitely. I knew she sold gift cards on her website and that I could use the gift card later, so I bought one for my next few appointments. Even if it doesn’t end up making a significant impact on her financial situation, the text she sent me to thank me immediately after my purchase showed me that I at least gave her some cheer in what must be a stressful time.
I started googling for more ideas like this. If this was so easy, surely there must be plenty of other ways to help, right? To my dismay, every article I found was merely pointing out how much small businesses were struggling and not offering up any solutions.
So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I brainstormed more easy (and even fun!) ways that those of us with some financial flexibility can support small businesses now now, right from our laptops. If you have some wiggle room in your budget, read on for ideas on small ways we can make a big difference.
The easiest way you can support local small businesses right now is to buy gift cards online to use later. Think of it as making a little loan to a small business owner who will still need to pay rent even if no one can come to their shop or salon.
As an added bonus, when you finally do leave your home, you would get to cash in on these gift cards and feel like you’re getting presents from your past self.
When we’re in the green to start going around town again, businesses will be busy again —like, everyone will need their haircut. People will be dying to go to stores. So it won’t make as much of a difference to the business then that you’re not spending money when you’re using the gift card. It matters more that they have enough money to stay afloat in the meantime.
Think about the places you go regularly, like restaurants, coffee shops, butchers, and bakeries, and places you visit periodically, like your hair dresser or barber or maybe a nail salon. Consider places you like to pop into from time to time, like plant and flower stores, boutiques, book stores, ice cream shops, and other specialty stores. Make a list and look online to see if any of them have gift cards you can buy online.
Maybe there’s a yoga studio downtown that you always meant to take a class at, or an art studio that always caught your eye. I bet you can buy a pack of classes now, and that you’d thank yourself later for finally taking action.
And you would for sure thank yourself later for a massage or spa gift card. Who knew helping other people could be so pampering? Everyone wins.
Are there businesses in your area that you would be heartbroken to see go under, but they don’t sell gift cards online? Call them up and suggest that they make a listing on Groupon with a far off expiration date. They don’t need to set up a whole new gift card service or even have a website; they can easily make use of an existing platform.
Checkout Groupon and Gilt to see if there’s anything else you’d be interested in trying in your area. This is also a great way to buy experience gifts for others.
Another way you might be able to support local businesses is by ordering food from any farms or markets that offer delivery services.
Check out Mercato to find shops near you that deliver, and look on nearby farms’ websites or Facebook pages to see if they’ve announced that they recently started delivering.
In the Boston area, you can get a large variety of food, including fresh fruits and veggies, cheeses, and frozen meat and seafood, delivered from the Boston Public Market, What Cheer Fruit & Produce, Family Dinner, Wilson Farm, Russo’s, McKinnon’s Meat Market, Burke’s Seafood, North End Fish Market, Formaggio Kitchen, Captain Marden’s Seafoods, Savenor’s Market, The Spirited Gourmet, Il Pastifico, Inc., Art’s Specialties, Freerange Market, ButterfieldMarket, Reading Terminal Market, and Veniero’s Pastry, to name a few.
Honestly, before now, I had NO idea I could get food delivered from so many local places, and I’ll be extra bummed if they don’t make it through the economic crisis because I want to keep ordering from them afterwards.
The easiest way to support non-local small business is to make an effort to shop small online, and the easiest way to shop small online is to shop on Etsy.
Before you buy more stuff from Amazon, ask yourself if you can wait a bit longer for shipping and check if Etsy has what you need. I love Amazon, but Amazon is going to be fine.
Did you know that you can even buy food on Etsy? There’s a whole section for it. Not just candies and cookies, you can buy fresh produce from shops like FreshFruitFlorida and FairviewOrchards. You could be treating yourself to fresh yellow dragonfruit, which is, by the way, better than red dragonfruit. You can buy all kinds of smoked sausages, gourmet popcorn, spicy strawberry beef jerky, hazelnut butter, homemade soft pretzels, freeze dried watermelon, pounds of nuts — the list goes on.
With all this newfound free time, you could get ahead of gift shopping for friends and family this year. Shopping this far ahead opens doors to getting things customized, or ordering things that are handmade upon ordering, like the adorable plant pots from CeramicSense. You could find unique things on Etsy that are just perfect for people on your list. Check out Etsy’s gift guides. Your gift receivers will be more likely to enjoy your gifts, and you won’t be scrambling later.
You know what really helps prevent cabin fever? Being surrounded by plants. I may happen to be a plant enthusiast, but I’m not making this up, science says you need plants. And did you know that you can actually order live plants and soil on Etsy? Not to mention all the pottery and watering cans you have to choose from. If you’re a plant care beginner, I recommend starting with a hard-to-kill pothos plant, and if you really can’t trust yourself with a live one, there are plenty of artificial plant options like this adorable faux Pilea.
I’m still working on setting up my current apartment, but check out my last.
Not a bad place to be stuck inside, eh? My hammock is actually from YellowLeafHammocks on Etsy, and I highly recommend it.
Etsy’s Home & Living section has over 17 million items. You’re going to be spending so much time at home, why not make it a place you enjoy being even more with some new artwork, furniture, or even storage and organization solutions to spruce up the place? If you’re working from home, you should also check out Etsy’s office section.
Alone time is the time for self care. Etsy has your back for all the cute new journals, the bubble bath, bath bombs, bath salts, candles, face masks, yoga mats, and Himalayan salt lamps you could possibly need. You can even buy self care kits from many shops like GratiaBoxCo, herbsandtwine, RoamHomegrown, MadeInTheShady, SecondSpringNaturals, and many more. Buy one for yourself, and send one to a friend!
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. There’s a whole, wide, wonderful world of small shops on Etsy that you probably haven’t tapped into yet because it’s just so easy to stick to the same big online retailers.
Outside of Etsy it can be harder to find small businesses to support, but there are so many more out there.
Into coffee? Check out this list of many gourmet roasters you can buy from online. Chocolate? Look here.
Try thinking about things like this that you love and search for articles with links to recommendations. You might end up finding a new favorite!
I personally recommend L.A Burdick Handmade Chocolates, a chocolate shop in Harvard Square in Cambridge and Back Bay in Boston that offers delivery of heavenly truffle assortments, drinking chocolate, and chocolate bars.
Please share your recommendations in the comments!
If you like these ideas and are excited about any small businesses you discover from this article, remember that you have to act now. We are in an economic crisis, and even with government help, many businesses may not see the other side of this pandemic.
If you’re someone who’s planning to buy stocks at the crash or take advantage of newly low interest rates on large purchases, you definitely have room in your budget to spend a little more by shopping small and pay for your next couple trips to your hairdresser up front.
Stay home, and shop small online.
Editor: Matt Yaspan
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