Do any of you ever pay over the odds to safeguard local services?

zarazara

yes, I do a supermarket shop once a month at Aldi but the rest of my shopping is at local independants. I've mostly,sadly though,stopped using our local butcher as the meat is at least twice the supermarket price and I just cant afford that. Its good meat though. I find Aldi to be about 1/3 cheaper than anywhere else that I shop. Irs a big difference, but as it involves a 15 mile car journey I only go once a month.

BUXTONRABBIT

I work in a supermarket and get a discount and as I am there most days that's where I shop. However with an ethical veggie son I do go to the local farm shop once a week for free range eggs and local milk Actually cheaper than supermarket and buy a sack of spuds there when I need one. the sausages are divine and make me feel like what I have always eaten are not sausages at all. they are expensive so a once in a while treat. the meat is also sometimes reduced heavily if the date is short and when it is I stock up. I use the local post office, very usefully 8 doors from my house.

alec_eiffel

I do use our local shops as much as possible, we do shop at a supermarket but it is a local chain and sells locals of local products - meat, dairy, bread, fruit and veg which is great.

I don't find that lots of things are that much more expensive, ok the special offers at the big supermarkets can be loads cheaper than the local shops but you don't get the little bit extra when you're a regular. The greengrocer we go to has given us loads of tips and recipes about preparing fruit and veg, we have met the suppliers on occasion and know how fresh the stuff is as well as getting an extra couple of bits thrown in with our shopping. As someone else said about the DIY shop I can go in sounding like an idiot who knows nothing and the guy will be able to help me! The cake shop is fab. We have a new old fashioned sweetshop which is amazing and again the owner is open to chat and asked if there was anything we'd really like to see in the shop. The bookshop is more expensive so occasionally we don't buy from there, but often we do and we found out there is a loyalty scheme so we will save cash along the line anyway, so it all evens out.

All those little things are fantastic for me. Takes ages to get the shopping done but only as long as it would take to drive to the big out of town supermarket and it's spent chatting and having a nice time.

ivyleaf

milliemonster wrote: »

that reminds me actually we have a small DIY store that have been going since before I was born (and I am 38 now lol!) and they are fantastic, much cheaper than B&Q and they will sell one nail or one screw if that's all you need whereas you have to buy these kinds of things in big packs at B&Q, hubby thinks they are fab! so we always support them

We've got one of those too A few months ago the spindle from our toilet roll holder broke, and I was able to buy a new one there! I use the local butcher's often - though they are dearer than the supermarkets the meat is better. They sell fruit and veg too but again they are very dear compared to the supermarkets, but sometimes get things in i don't often see elsewhere, such as locally grown flat muchrooms. which are gorgeous. We have a bakery too which we always use. Their bread is much better than supermarket bread.

We used to have milk delivered but our lovely milkman retired this summer, and although someone took over the round he could only come 3 days a week, which was awkward when it came to ordering extra milk but we decided to give it a go. It was ok for the first 3 weeks, then he started missing deliveries and then stopped coming at all, so we now buy our milk (and a lot of other stuff) at the local Co-Op.

LandyAndy

Our small town has a high street full of independent stores and, yes, I use them a lot.

pupsicola

I use to pay slightly over the odds for things at my local village shop. Could see that there were alot of neighbours near me that benefited from the convenience. Then the proprietor began to take the mick and upped his prices ridiculously, thinking it okay to rip people off becuase he was so handy.

Now I drive to a supermarket and buy all I need for far less, offering to pick things up for neighbours who struggle to get out. If I cant be bothered to travel I order it online and have it delivered.

Yes its nice to have the old fashioned village store but not if they start trying to mistreat vulnerable people.

Ladyhawk

I'll pay for quality and service. I don't believe companies, retailers etc are bad because of where they are based. I will spend my money with organisations with good ethics, good animal welfare and which treats me with respect.

Food miles is now recognised as being largely irrelevant in determining the the sustainability of goods.

Pitlanepiglet

Our (lack of) budget means that I don't support our local shops as much as I would like to. We do get our fuel at the local garage rather than the Tesco 7 miles away. Neither DH or I drink cows milk, Dad does and he's always had his delivered by the milkman. I'm not sure how much it costs as he pays for it, the convenience is probably worth paying for though, I shop on a monthly or six weekly basis and if we had to shop for milk it would have to be the local garage which I expect is expensive or a 7 mile each way trip to Tesco so I suspect it's not far off being the best solution.

Dad has a newspaper delivered from the local shop as well.

I'm struggling with vegetables, our local farm shop is lovely but its prices seem high compared to Tesco. We buy sacks of spuds from them but not much in the way of veggies, I need to go and do another price comparison and see what it's like. At the moment I pick up fresh veggies when I need to go anywhere or I use frozen veg in between shops.

I think mine is a "could do better"!

susank

I use a local butcher who buys local cattle and they are slaughtered not too far away either I also buy his haggis made on his premises once a week and I buy fish from a fishman who comes from Portsoy round the doors every week. I DONT buy local fuel as its so so much dearer than the supermarkets as I cannot justify the difference at all and I do use a local newsagents for papers and bread baked in forres not so far away so do try but main shop is tesco i am afraid but a farm shop for potatoes and veg instead where I can.

andrinaperry

I buy locally when i can, we have an Electrical shop as well as haberdashers selling paint and all things gardening.

Andrina