Stanley Bing, the infamous mystery man from Fortune magazine, recently wrote in his blog about the closing of downtown Chicago’s Marshall Fields: “We need to consider the confluence of trends on which we’re now surfing. On the one hand, the price of fuel is soon going to limit our ability to travel, ship goods, and hence create the kind of national branding that has always been a way of life for us. On the other hand, local businesses are dying faster than you can say Odd Lots.”
Businesses outside the community are dedicated to creating profits outside the community. National brands do not sustain local communities, like this department store—and Chicago institution—did. Yet, it has become a way of life to support these big box businesses and not consider the ones right in our own backyards.
Groton Local is in the early stages of developing a “shop local” campaign in Groton and the surrounding communities of Harvard, Littleton, Westford, Shirley, Ayer, Pepperell, and Townsend. This summer, we urge you to think local first.
For more information, call 978-448-9830.
Barbara Scofidio
Groton
