A thriving economy post pandemic means buying local
The future is looking bleak: it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Supply chain woes. Rising shipping costs. Inflation. Food shortages. It makes one want to run to the Bulk Barn, stock up on rice and beans, and lock oneself away until the storm passes.
Yet throughout it all, a hopeful optimism persists. Alternative media has gained strength, as dissenting voices emerge with unbiased sources of news.
Buying local has finally garnered long over due support. In recent years, the trite (and overused) slogan would elicit eye rolls, in hypocritical tandem to the chimes of “confirmed purchase” emails from Amazon warehouses.
Wearing second hand is now cool. Upcycling dilapidated furniture reigns as one of the most popular categories on Tik Tok. Growing your own vegetables in now the “it” way to source (legitimately organic) produce.
We can thank the pandemic for these revelations. Unprecedented times expose the corrupt under belly of government. It’s taught us to get back to basics. It’s brought us together as it’s stripped so much away.
Now is the opportunity to reprogram our spending habits and speak with our dollar.
There are various ways you can support small business, and here are just a few suggestions to get you started.
Buy winery direct
If you want to know how your wine is really made, it’s time to start visiting your neighbourhood winemaker. A great disconnect exists when it comes to wine consumption. Eating food sourced from the farmer’s market just doesn’t pair that well with a mass produced bottle of J Lohr.
If you can’t make a trip to a local wine region, your next best bet is to order direct.
Here are just a few who will ship direct to your door (despite government run monopolies telling you otherwise): Lightning Rock, Creek and Gully, Whispering Horse, 16 Mile, Traynor
Buy from local importers
If international wine is more to your palate, the best place to look are to the people importing the wine. They vet for quality, price, and availability.
Rules vary province to province - if you can’t purchase direct from the importer, they can direct you to a retailer where you can find their products.
Some of the leading Canadian importers to reach out to: Drink Better, Vino Al Vino, Bespoke, Plaid Cap Imports
Subscribe to local wine clubs
Wine clubs work in partnership with importers, retail shops and wineries. The selling feature here is the research and sourcing of the best, most exclusive, or highly allocated products that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to get your hands on (or heard of).
Most clubs operate at a provincial level, but some will ship nationally. Various genres exist, and that’s the good news - there’s something out there for everyone.
A few to check out: Crushable, Purple Teeth Consulting, Somm at Home
Purchase experiences from local experts
If the pandemic has taught us something, it’s that you can’t take anything with you. The practice of gifting experiences and the industry that’s emerged because of it has since exploded as we have begun to value creating memories over giving “stuff”.
With travel being so limited due to on going fears of new variants, local exploration and staycations have become the norm. Visiting a nearby neighbourhood now seems like an enticing prospect.
Take a cooking class, book a wine tasting, learn how to take better photography - the options are endless.
Check out these platforms and discover what exciting local experiences might exist in your area: Air BnB Experiences, Artery, experimnt
Discover “virtual” wineries
Land is expensive. This is especially the case in Canada. Yet, the dream still persists for many eager (albeit naive) young winemakers to one day open their own winery.
Until that day can become a reality, many sommeliers-cum-winemakers are opting for the virtual route: purchase fruit from local vineyards, borrow a corner in an already existing winery, and make a small run of wine, sold under their own label.
You can’t visit them since no space actually exists, but in the know consumers savvy on social media can keep tabs on their latest releases on where to find and how to buy.
Take a peek at just a few here: 80X Wine, plot, Thorn & Burrow, Pamplemousse Jus
