Stagnation is the death of innovation, proven by large corporations' inability to transition to new ideas quickly.

Cover Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

The silver lining of a pandemic is that most local shops are small businesses and can quickly adjust their products and marketing to the demands. For the last six years, the transition from retail shopping to online shopping has been on a steady incline, but once the Pandemic shut the world down, it offered local retail shops an opportunity to adapt. We witnessed so many shops innovating and stepping up and making masks and supporting those working on the front-lines. In return, we were able to see a community invested in helping those shops succeed. The hashtag #shoplocal has been trending to customers all across Canada as the first option for shopping. In an effort to support local shops, there has been an increase of entrepreneurs who are willing to fill the void with their new ideas and products.

Shopping local has reinforced the notion that customers are supporting a friend, a neighbour, and a family member. In doing so, choosing local shops helps grow your community and brings people together to help the economy. Shopping locally provides a sense of pride to those around the community as they champion those small shops to others. Furthering support from those customers helps shops to reinvest back into the community by supporting activities, sports organizations, and a variety of sponsorships.

In this time of transition, many local fairs and markets have also learned new ways of supporting shops. In next month's issue, we'll get to hear from one of the local markets in Calgary, Little Modern Market, and discuss with them the way they were able to transition from in-person markets to creating an online market for the shops they showcase. We will also be able to hear from local shops in various places, all located in Canada, to know what inspired them to venture out on their own and create shops.

As a startup ourselves, we want to support those who inspire us and make us proud of where we live. We understand the struggle of starting from scratch and going through the void of the unknown. In the next several months, we will feature local shops across Canada that have built their brand and have found ways to pivot through the pandemic. We also would like to hear from our readers as to the shops that inspire you. If you are a local business, we want to know your story and how we can help.

For some, it has been a struggle to make it through the last year with job loss, lack of control, and unpredictability. However, some of those hardships have become a catalyst for starting something new. It's been uplifting to experience the support seen by those rallying behind the small shops during this pandemic. As a community, it has decided to leave no one behind and make an effort to support those who create. It seems that as a whole, we have returned to the ideology that it is more important to support one another than to make it on our own.