Buy Local: Week 3 Wrap-Up

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Buying Local vs. Buying Locally?

I’ve had this discussion with a few people: is this project about staying in a geographic area or is it about only doing and buying things from local producers? My response is that it is a little bit of both. Over the past three weeks I have proven to myself that I can get (almost) everything I need within my neighborhood. The local producer part is equally about the type of neighborhood I live in — there are many local businesses and few chains — and my personal preferences. There is a 7-11 convenience store about 4 blocks away but I almost never go there. The Johnny’s neighborhood market 2 blocks away has most all of the absolute necessities, and the P&C Market 4 blocks away carries good wines, artisanal cheese, organic beef and Vernor’s ginger ale. Neither of these is open as many days or as late as the 7-11 but I see the owners and managers regularly and when I ask for P&C to check into carrying my favorite flavor of Honest Tea (Peach White Tea, if you’re wondering), I know someone ACTUALLY does look into it. (It’s because their distributor doesn’t carry it — but I’m keeping up my one woman campaign. I noticed they’ve started carrying the Peach Oo-La-Long as a stop gap measure. Thanks guys!)

Truthfully, though, I’m not opposed to chains or big box stores. Consumers can benefit on the price side when a business has the ability to get lower prices from their suppliers because of bulk purchasing. Our TV died a few weeks ago, before my buy local commitment but not so long before that we had a chance to get a new one. When we do finally get a TV, we’ll probably go to Best Buy or Costco. They have lots of options and generally lower prices. They do not offer a pleasant shopping experience or a knowledgeable sales staff. You’re pretty much on your own when you walk in the door, but you go in knowing that will be the case. Oh, and I think its great these places exist, but keep them in the strip malls of Northern Virginia. I do not want one in my neighborhood. I don’t mind the drive, really.

Where this philosophy really does make a difference is impact on the community. In my first post, I mentioned a statistic from the Sonoma County, California buy local program, Go Local First. Their materials say that buying from a locally-owned business rather than chain stores keeps your money circulating 3 times longer in the local economy. Well, okay … It would be my guess that most people who work on Capitol Hill either live in the neighborhood or nearby. It isn’t like downtown DC where people will commute in for a job in a shop. So I have a fairly good chance of keeping some of my money circulating locally by shopping at ANY store in the neighborhood. Well, yes and no. Yes, shopping at the Harris Teeter grocery store means I’m supporting a business that employs many local workers. But the only money that continues to circulate in the economy is wages paid to those workers. Contrast that with picking up some plants at Surroundings at Lincoln Park. The owner of this local shop lives and works here so when you buy something from him, some of the wages he pays continue to circulate in the local economy and, on top of that, so do some of his business’ profits. He makes improvements to his store, he buys personal real estate in the neighborhood, etc. By contrast, all of the profits from Harris Teeter go right back to Matthews, NC and their parent company Ruddick Corporation.

I would by no means consider myself a purist when it comes to this subject. Tradeoffs must be made. I cannot get my favorite cereal at the neighborhood market, nor can I pick up an HD television at the Sunday flea market at Eastern Market. I might be able to get one from the back of a truck at the unSafeway in NE, but that’s a different kind of participation in the economy. I guess I’m just getting a better sense not only of where I draw the line for compromise between local and non-local providers and, at the same time, finding that it is easier than I thought to get what I need by shopping local.

Anybody else been giving this a try? What are you finding?

Buy Local: Week 2 Wrap-Up

Mary McLeod Bethune statue in Lincoln Park

The most important thing I’ve come to realize the past two weeks? Lincoln Park and Eastern Market make a huge contribution to my quality of life.

I was not totally unaware of this before. I have a dog which, in my neighborhood, means visiting Lincoln Park at least once a day. If one were to name a hub of Capitol Hill it would certainly be Eastern Market. However, by removing all my other non-local options and forcing myself into the mindset of relying exclusively on local outlets, I’ve become acutely aware of two things: first that they not only meet but also satisfy my needs, for which I am increasingly grateful; and second, I am very invested in decisions and actions that impact them.

Case in point: the Hine school redevelopment. I sort of knew that the prime Pennsylvania Ave. parcel of land this now closed middle school sits on would be redeveloped soon, but my opinion didn’t go much further beyond happiness that there would be some new retail options in a couple of years. Now that I’ve spent so much time seeking out the food and fun I need to keep myself sated and occupied (and, as a side benefit, doing it mostly by bicycle), I’ve gained a more nuanced appreciation for the unique personality of all the little pockets of homes and businesses in the area. Wherever I’ve lived, I’ve always been interested in the people — always known the neighbors and such — but now I’m much more interested in the community that comes from the interaction between neighbors and local commerce. So when I saw sketches of one Hine plan that had the name of an urban, trendy clothing store sketched in, my reaction was almost visceral. Where previously I may not have cared so much, now I was moved to action. There is no question Capitol Hill needs more clothing and furniture stores, but from what I see, we are more suited to unique businesses like the U Street model, not the big chains of downtown or Georgetown. This topic is being discussed throughout the neighborhood right now (including City Paper, interesting perspective from this blog, and this one, and loads of others) and can get rather heated so I’m not wading into any specific discussions here. My point is, before I would have probably been happy knowing a big, empty building on a prime spot would be redeveloped. Now, though I’m not so much gearing up for battle like some, I am invested enough to have submitted comments to the city along with a couple of fellow business owners.

Back to the task at hand …. In terms of goings on, during Week 2 I managed to entice a couple of friends to skip the downtown lunch scene and visit some of my favorite local spots. I have always been fascinated by the impact of circles of influence, and these two trips are perfect examples of how it can work. As a customer, I’m really a finite resource. I only have so much disposable income to spend, and only a small portion of that disposable income goes to lunch and an even smaller portion of that is spent at a particular restaurant. BUT, if I introduce people from my circle of influence to my favorite spots, then the impact of my tiny sliver of disposable income at a particular shop can suddenly become limitless because it is added to my friend’s who will then bring in people from her circle.

From taylordeli.wordpress.com

The particular beneficiaries of my circle of influence this week were Taylor Gourmet Deli on H Street NE and A. Litteri’s off of Florida at 517 Morse Street NE. In the case of Taylor, my friend was so

Litteri's Calendar from litteris.com

impressed that she took a delivery menu back so they can use it next time her office orders food for a meeting. So Me + My Friend + My Friend’s Office = more $$ and word of mouth for Taylor. Litteri’s was introduced to me by my neighbors, who order from them for at least one Michigan football tailgate party at their house each season. This also led to us using them for a party we co-hosted. So now the benefit to Litteri’s is My Neighbor’s Tailgate + Our Party + Me + My Friend. Our choices and recommendations make us more influential than we realize.

There were also some great meetings and chats during Week 2 with other business owners who work at home and, like me, need to get out of the house once in a while, so we took advantage of the comfy chairs at SOVA (where I interviewed a local designer for an upcoming post on The Hill is Home) and the centralized convenience of Port City Java, Tunnicliff’s (twice in one day for me!) and Peregrine Espresso. I also had a fantastic time at the Capitol Riverfront 80s Summer Movie Series, at Tingey Plaza behind the new Dept of Transportation and near the baseball stadium. Perhaps the biggest local move I made during Week 2 was switching my internet service. I ditched Verizon and am now with DC Access. After weeks of awful service from Verizon, it was a relief to move my business to a company just a few blocks away. I see the owners in the neighborhood and the same person returns my messages when I call or email. +Sigh+ It is such a nice change.

It was quite a busy week. But if you’re interested in reading more, check out my posts for The Hill is Home on Hill spots that made the Washingtonian Best Of list for the summer and a local small businessman looking for ways to grow his business so he can provide jobs for local youth.

WILFMC #4: Pay Attention to the Small Things

What I Learned From My Contractor: A Series About the Client-Provider Relationship
Fourth in a series of 10. For background see the introduction.

Now is probably a good time to mention that I’m NOT getting anything from H3 Renovations for writing this series. That crown moulding in the living room that didn’t make it into the budget? Still not there, and probably won’t be for a while. I was simply perplexed with the dichotomy between my home renovation experience and the usually disastrous experience you hear about. Often overlooked, I think Carlos proves how important operational discipline is to managing a successful project with a happy client.

Now that’s out of the way ….

Part of installing central air conditioning was putting an air handler in our attic. For this to happen, we needed to cut a hole in the ceiling at the front of the house big enough to fit the air handler and convenient enough for maintenance. A side benefit of this was, for the first time, we would have access to our attic for storage because they would be installing a set of fold-down stairs. I cannot stress what a big deal this is. When you live in an urban area you make tradeoffs. I can walk or ride a bike to most anywhere I need to go on a daily basis, my “front yard” is a 2 square block park maintained by the National Park Service and I never have to sit in traffic for an hour just to get to and from work. In return, I find strange objects in my front garden, I collect parking tickets and the idea of storage space is a complete myth. That is to say, if the crew leader, Ricardo, cut a hole in the bedroom ceiling with a pair of dull scissors I would not have even noticed, I’d be so happy just to have the extra space.

Now you can understand why I was surprised to see the attic access and stairs redone not once, but twice. The first time had to do with the trim — I never actually saw what was wrong, I was so blinded by my eagerness I totally missed it. The second time the entire apparatus had to be removed and repositioned. At that point we actually discussed chucking the whole thing and starting over because of an issue with our existing ceiling (again, its an old house so you never know what you’ll find). Ultimately the second time was a charm and now all our suitcases, camping equipment and other assorted items that had once been in the scary basement were relocated to the new penthouse suite.

At the time, my only opinion about this process can be summarized in one word: hurry. We were near the end of the project and beyond the end of my patience with having the house in disarray. Having this task finished meant I would have some space to start putting things away and restoring order to my surroundings. Honest to goodness, I couldn’t see what was wrong and was probably ready to overlook anything in order to mark this task as finished. But Carlos was insistent. They were small things — a seam in the trim, a narrow gap in the access door — but he wanted them fixed. And he was absolutely right. Now that been a couple of months, I know those little things would have driven me crazy. As part of the first phase of the project, I had all the mouldings and door & window casings changed so that they matched because the fact that they didn’t was my #1 pet peeve. Yep, it was on the list above “no central air conditioning”. So though the issues with the attic were small things, getting them right made a big difference.

Up next: Be upfront with your opinions.

Buy Local: Week 1 Wrap Up

My first week of going local was a short one so here’s a brief recap:

- Spent lots of time at the newly opened Eastern Market picking up veggies from the Calomiris family and meat from Union and Canales. Also managed to get everything I needed for my contribution to a long weekend for 7 on the Eastern Shore. We had quite the car load but, if I wasn’t going to be on Capitol Hill for the holiday weekend, I did my best to take the Hill with me.

- I made it to Results Gym for a workout but managed to spend more time at Lincoln Park when the weather was nice (and when the dog got antsy).

- Went to an amazing Nationals game – yes, it really was a good one – where we held the lead over Atlanta through the entire game. We got there early enough to watch the first four innings from a nice rail-side seat on the Red Porch. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Something I didn’t expect? Having my tens of readers know just how often I skip going to the gym in the morning. This will definitely be a motivator. I also have a couple of doctor visits coming up. We’re going to draw the privacy line there, but rest assured, I also stay loyal to my neighborhood whenever possible when it comes to medical care. I’m also already making my list of “things we need”. At the top right now? A movie theater that doesn’t make you cringe.

Regrets thus far are trifling. I didn’t include Langston Golf Course in my boundaries, so I guess it’ll be a while before I get the clubs out. The big one is missing out on the Washington Kastles. Last year was an amazing experience being right in the middle of the city watching some great tennis. The stadium has an intimate set up, so you’re up close to all the players — miles closer than the seats you can get for Labor Day weekend at the US Open. I may have to take a hiatus … or wait for Legg Mason.

Week 2 preview: delicious sandwiches at Taylor Gourmet, and a trip to SOVA with some fellow business owners from my own street.

Buying Local: 31 Days on Capitol Hill

As promised, from today until the end of July I’m conducting my very own social and financial experiment: doing all of my shopping, eating and playing in my Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Here’s how it will work: I am committed to spending the next month getting everything I need from the local area. When I started thinking about doing this, the first question I had to answer for myself was: What is Capitol Hill? That’s a big question but, seeing as how this is a buy local initiative and not an existential discussion, I had to make some choices. So, here are my boundaries:

West: North/South Capitol Street; East: RFK stadium
North: Florida/Benning Avenue; South: Southeast waterfront

It will be my goal to get anything and everything I need within these parameters. Sound easy? We will see. Looking prospectively at my calendar, I have a couple of lunches, some work meetings and a baseball game lined up already, which should be a breeze. There are a few trips to the beach on the horizon so I’m working out a plan to get all the food, drink and other necessary supplies for a weekend in the sun from my friendly local businesses ahead of time My challenges: avoiding a restaurant rut and finding good hostess gifts for those ubiquitous summertime backyard BBQs that are sure to pop up. So, if you have some suggestions that will help out in those areas, please share!

At this point you may be asking yourself “why bother”? One reason is simply the challenge of finding new ways to get what I need. Another is to get to know this area again — I’ve lived here for 8 years, but the neighborhood has grown and changed dramatically, especially in the last couple of years so its time to take a look with fresh eyes. Last, but not least, is that I’m a big believer in supporting my local community. There’s a statistic that buying locally keeps your money circulating three times longer in the local economy. If I’m investing my resources already, I should see more of a benefit by spending those resources locally.

Follow my experiment via daily updates on Twitter (@SCLinDC) and weekly recaps on the blog. Check in, tell me how I’m doing and share your favorite spots on the Hill!