Oh shopping…that lost activity that I once enjoyed without care. I thought nothing about popping into the car and taking off for a trip into downtown Brevard to pick up a few things or to simply browse the shops. But things have changed since March, haven’t they? I have not been “shopping” at all. I have done curbside pick ups and gone inside stores only to pick up orders that have been pre ordered. I have not browsed. I have worn a mask.
In the words of Dr. Seuss – “I don’t like it, Sam I Am.” Not one bit.
I don’t have to buy anything to be happy. That is not always the purpose of the shopping trip. Many times it is just a social thing. A chance to get out and about, to see other people and to be out in our cute little downtown.
Of course I have shopped online. A lot. If I could find it online and I needed it I did. We get so many deliveries from USPS, UPS and Fed Ex and I let those delivery folks know how much I appreciate them navigating our driveway to deliver the multitude of packages that I have waiting each week. I put notes in the mailbox and little baggies of goodies for all the delivery folks. it makes a difference to me so I want them to know they are appreciated.
But I have a few places I have ordered from recently that I wanted to give a shout out to today because they have gone above and beyond. First up is a dairy in Iowa that one of my blogger friends, Val, who writes at Corn Beans Pigs and Kids shared a picture of some cheese curds and boy oh boy – did they look good. So a quick correspondence with WW Homestead Dairy and we worked out a reasonable shipping rate (shipping to the midwest is much easier and less expensive than to North Carolina when it comes to keeping products cold) and soon I had my very own shipment of delightful cheese curds, cheese slices and butter. It was wonderful to have a little splurge and to support a small business at the same time. Check out their Facebook page here and their website here.

Next up was one of our local shops that I have shared before. The White Squirrel Shoppe in downtown Brevard has such a lovely selection of merchandise for tourists and locals alike. Lorraine has a great eye and started posting pictures of cute outfits on their Facebook page. I messaged her, ordered a couple of things and she promptly shipped them out. She was happy to do curbside pickup but at that point I was pretty hunkered down and just wanted to have the convenience of having it sent to me. When the package arrived I had to make a couple size adjustments and she met me at the store for that safe exchange. Of course now the shop is reopened under our state’s phasing plan with precautions and safety being put first but I loved that she was able to come up with some creative marketing to allow some shopping to happen. Check out their Facebook page here and the website here. I also wrote a post about The White Squirrel Shoppe that you can read by clicking here.

Finally when hand sanitizer was no where to be found I reached out to another Iowa source – Camille at Prairie Aromatics/Soyphisticated Candles had just what I was looking for and she was happy to box up my goodies and send them along quickly. I even ordered some items for our son and daughter in law in New York City and had her ship them there. What a great way to support another small business and get some hand sanitizer at the same time. Check out her Facebook page here and her website here.

There are great things that we can do while we navigate the challenges of Covid-19. Shopping with trusted small businesses is one way to support others during this challenging time. Acknowledging the delivery folks, the employees and wearing masks to show our concern and respect for others are other ways to be a good human during these challenging times. Have you had a good experience with a particular business during the past couple of months? I would love to hear all about it in the comments so Comment for a Cause – Transylvania Tomorrow. Each comment means a 50 cent donation to help our local small businesses.
10 Comments
Leave a commentI’ve always found great joy in supporting small businesses, but it’s even more heightened during this time! Love you found some great ones to support!
There are no retail stores in Davisburg, and in Clarkston the next town over there are some restaurants but still no real stores. I haven’t purchased anything but groceries and art supplies since March. I’m glad you were able to support your local (and used to be local) shops!
We’ve been trying to support smaller businesses as well. When one of our favorite restaurants near Boone announced they were closing but please help their local purveyors we jumped at the chance and have been ordering beef from a farm in NC. It’s sooooo good and they do a great job packing it. I don’t think we’ll buy beef in the store ever again.
I’ve been able to do a lot of my shopping by ordering Instacart for delivery. I get anxious going to the store, any store. And we always wear our masks.
That is awesome! We have been looking for good beef so if you can share the info about them I would LOVE it!!! And it would be good to support them as well.
I’ll send you the info via text!!!!
Thanks!
Good for you to support these local businesses. My shopping is limited to buying food and basic necessities. The second daughter ordered hand sanitizer shipped to me when I couldn’t find it anywhere here in Minnesota. Now I’ve seen it on one grocery store shelf. But still no sanitizer wipes.
So wonderful to support small businesses! You are very good at that. We haven’t done much online ordering but hubby has bought some motorcycle parts online and we ordered fish and chips the other night from a small family run business. It is the restaurants and coffee shops that are suffering the most here.
Shopping, what’s that? It’s been so long since I’ve shopped, I may have forgotten how. During this time we had our groceries delivered to our front porch. And that’s truly the only thing we’ve ordered other than one or two items online. Bless you for patronizing some of those small businesses. I’m sure they appreciated it so very much.
We are doing our best to support our local business too. It is the way it should be. We are doing some ordering on line also. The cheese & butter box is great!!