One of my friends once told me I was shopping local long before it was cool. It’s true–I’ve been a huge advocate of shopping locally since…about 1993. At that time, I worked at Happy Joe’s Pizza right here in Morrison. The owner of the restaurant, Lynn Kenady (she and her husband, Kevin, are still the owners), always talked about supporting the local economy and did so not only by donating to a multitude of local organizations and fundraisers but also by shopping here in town as much as possible. I am not going to say I started shopping 100% local right then, but her words definitely planted a seed in my head that continued to grow.
In the last 7-10 years, I’ve really been making an effort to shop locally as much as possible, even if it means spending more. The stores here in Morrison employ mostly Morrison people, hire mostly Morrison teens, and donate to Morrison’s schools, organizations, fundraisers, etc. Their owners usually live here and pay property taxes here. They are involved. They deserve our business. Price-wise, they sometimes cannot compete with the superstores in the bigger communities. Those stores can afford to make less per sale due to the sheer volume of products they sell. They can buy in larger quantities, they often have the power to bargain and make demands of vendors (that is a rant for another day), and they have a larger client base. It is unrealistic to expect a small-town business to be able to offer the same price. However, I dare you to find a business with better customer service than what we find here in Morrison.
A couple of incidences come to mind. We have purchased all of our appliances at Yarbrough Electric. One hot Sunday afternoon, the fan on our refrigerator stopped working. It seemed to be running, but not blowing air. I called Arnie Drolema, owner of Yarbrough’s, at home to ask if there was something simple I could do to get it going again. He gave me a couple of suggestions, and said if it wouldn’t start up again to call back and he’d be right over. ON A SUNDAY. We had an extra freezer and fridge, so we didn’t need Arnie to stop over, but it was sure reassuring to know that he would’ve been here had we needed him to be.
Last summer, my whole family was in town to celebrate my grandmother’s 89th birthday (Sis Bordner…half of you reading this probably know her). When we are together, we often will do some shopping downtown Morrison, as our out-of-town cousins think it’s a quaint thing to do. We walked up to Lincoln Highway Gifts, only to find out it was closed at that time. I can’t remember what day of the week or time it was…but they were definitely closed and by the hours on the door, not opening any time soon. However, Susan Schuler, the owner, happened to be in the store working that day, and she opened up just for us. Meanwhile, she offered her store as a safe-keeping area for a woman with a huge jogging stroller that wouldn’t fit up the steps of the dance studio next door.
There are numerous other fabulous Morrison businesses and I could write on and on, but in the interest of maintaining the attention of my loyal blog visitors, I will close with a photograph instead. My son Evan, with the cutest little bath mitts ever, purchased recently at a new Morrison gift shop, The Velvet Pod. We also purchased handmade soap, candles, dog treats, and other fun stuff there. It’s a fabulous little store with very unique products, and they promote being green, which is another love of mine…a post for another day…
Wonder who that lady with the huge stroller was?