What It Really Means To Shop Small

Written By Allie Perry December 13, 2024

Shop Small.

You’ve heard it a thousand times, often from small business owners like me, and the phrase has begun to feel like some empty ad slogan with no connection to anything real.

But it’s SO real, and has such HUGE impact!

Instead of blathering on about why you should let me convince you to support small businesses, I’m going to tell you how and why I support small businesses—personally and professionally—and what it means to you as my customer.

All of the cabochons I source for my business come from independent lapidary artists in the United States. The slabs and larger chunks of stone are sourced globally, depending on where each stone is mined, but then the lapidary artists cut and polish each stone by hand to create something I can set into jewelry for you. These artists run micro-businesses, frequently consisting of just one person wearing all the hats of material sourcing, design, fabrication, marketing, selling, and shipping. When I support these business owners, many of whom have become friends and supporters of mine, I’m not only providing you with a high-quality product, I’m also helping them support their families and communities.

Many of the tools you see me highlight on my social media pages come from similar micro-businesses. People working out of their garage or small, rented studio spaces. People designing and redesigning tools or storage solutions to work best for their customers. People manufacturing many of the products on their own in small batches. People who care more about their clients than any big business ever will.

Every year I compile a list of products and small businesses in a holiday gift guide. These are one-person operations, couples trying to build their business life together, or crafters trying to get out of their 9-5 and into their own small business. I don’t have enough money to shop from every small business that I fall in love with, but I can certainly take a day to compile their information into a graphic to share with you! They’ll get seen by new eyes and you’ll find a cool new place to shop. Win win.

And if I can’t shop from these small businesses, I support them any way I can on social media. Liking, commenting on, and sharing posts is a great way to support a small business! Advertising is expensive, and doesn’t always convert to sales, but word of mouth is a really effective way to help small businesses get visibility. If I’m going to doom scroll all day, I might as well find some way to make it productive and help others in the process. I’m always happy to take that extra fraction of a second and double-tap a ❤️ into someone’s day.

So the next you hear “shop small”, remember all of us makers out here trying to make our dreams come true. It will mean the world to us.