Carl Fields of The Coffee Barn in Altoona, Iowa

I met with Carl and his wife last month to talk about their story and business for an upcoming issue of Small Business Buzz. During that conversation, Carl shared some of his insights on the value of locally owned businesses and an article he had written some time ago. He also showed me that he is using the "shop locally" logo on his coffee shipments which really warmed my heart. He also mentioned that he enjoyed David's cartoons for the newsletter. This thrilled David. Here is Carl's article.

Shop Altoona, Make a Commitment

I wanted to provide additional support for Altoona’s grocery stores, hardware store, banks, gas stations, post office, hair salons, siding dealers, drug stores, grain elevator and other good and caring businesses. Yes, the community of Altoona has a wide range of services and products available and service is usually only a phone call away if the business is closed. Now that’s convenience!

I wanted to focus mainly on our local businesses. They’re not on the front page of any publication receiving recognition for their contributions to our community. Let me tell you what I have experienced. As a citizen of Altoona, I know the businesses give discounts to school organizations buying items for concessions and other activities. Southeast Polk can keep prices lower at activities because of the discounts they receive. Local businesses support the churches and the owners also give discounts on items purchased for these activities as part of their commitment to our church community.

The local businesses are sustaining members and supporters of the Kiwanis Club, the Jaycees, Rotary, Lion’s Club and many other service organizations so they can serve our community. If that’s not enough, just ask members of our local Fire Department or local Community Christmas committee what the local businesses do for them.

Please don’t just rely on our hometown businesses for an extra gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. Make a commitment to shop locally. They are our neighbors, our friends, our fire department, our police department and all of our supporters of the community in which we call home.  If you don’t like the way they are doing things just ask and most of the time they will make an effort to do it your way!  If they don’t have what you are looking for, ask them and I bet in most cases the local business will make the effort to find it for you.

And one more thing.  As business owners we need to support each other. Make a commitment to shop local.  What that means is that more businesses mean more people and more people mean more money in our bottom dollar.  Now let’s make an effort to really support our local business and plan and make an effort to shop local.

  Great writeup Carl. Thanks for your participation in dsmBUZZ and being an advocate for locally owned!