question for the Locavores

I have been thinking for awhile how to stat this discussion,and still not coming up with a good way to start it.How local do you go? If you feel passionate about supporting locally owned restaurants and bars serving locally produced goods,does your passion extend beyond the food world? What are other locally produced goods you try to make an effort to support? Another complication to this discussion would be that the definition of local also seems to vary by product.

I love local hardware stores....Brownsboro Hardware is a great example. Personal service and they know who I am.

Thanks to you, I now buy 75% of my meat from Barr Farms. The rest comes from wherever is convenient.

I shop at Liquor Barn, but only buy craft (independent) beers. I try to stick to beer from this region, 3 Floyds, Great Lakes, Founders, BBC, Browings, but I also buy Sierra Nevada's and Stone's beers among others. If NABC had bottled beer available, I would quit buying any beers from out of the immediate area.

I buy all my wine (grape juice w/ alcohol) from the wineries in the surrounding area.

I grow most of my produce and buy the rest from Paul's or Beargrass Farmers Market.

All my seafood comes from the Seafood Connection.

I try to buy Blue Dog or Harvest Bread Co. bread.

No chain restaurants, (Boombozz excluded) period.

Comfy Cow is now the only ice cream I buy.

Thanks Mark, that kind of illustrates one of the problems I had in starting this discussion. Thats almost going back to the chain vs local issue that crops up all the time here. I was trying to get more at the actual goods than the merchant. But the two are kind of entwined anyway. I support a local owned pharmacist over CVS and Walgreens, but the medicine most likely came from India. That tends to point the discussion in the small business vs huge box store. I was trying to get a feel for what other goods are worth the extra effort/cost to support local. An example I have a personal bias for would be plants,shrubs etc...Another example might be tools,example would be ladders that are made in Louisville. Would it make any difference to you, to buy a baseball bat made here than one from New Jersey?

Justin, I was going for goods other than food/bev.
Probably should of posted in the About Louisville section.

Good subject John -
First, the focus is primarily on locally sourced foods. I would argue that locally produced beverages should also be a focal point of the "local" movement (teas, sodas, beer, wine, liquor, etc). Beverages produced with locally sourced ingredients would be a plus, but certain ingredients are not suited to our locality (hops, sugar cane, etc).

Second, local services (plumbing, advertising, linens, payroll, transportation, design, etc) are a great point of interest.

Third (and probably the most complicated), local providers/retailers that provide products produced by national companies. Is it more local to support your local hardware store or the big box store down the street? Which has the greater impact on our local economy and/or better serves the needs of the community?

Fourth, I believe that many of us are ignorant about what mass produced goods are produced locally (I certainly am ignorant of what many of our bigger companies in the Louisville metro produce).
The big names Ford & GE immediately come to mind and there is a Manitowoc center here, but what else is produced locally?
A list of items produced by local industries would be great. (maybe there is one, and i just haven't found it yet?)

The local by product point is complicated when you examine any particular product or service in depth.... locally produced beer uses ingredients sourced from various other regions and its primary local ingredient is water (not hops or barley), but uses local labor, yet probably uses equipment sourced from another region, and software from a non-local company, the restaurant may use a non-local payroll service, and linen services from a national, while using locally sourced "in season" produce, while the bulk of their dry goods are produced at the national level (but using local sales reps), the dishes and glassware are not local, the seafood is shipped in, the wine/beer is not local, but the rep is, but the distributor is not.......and on and on
Even the local farmer may use seeds/plantings sourced from other regions, fertilizers (even natural ones) may come from national companies, the local service provider uses tools/software produced by a non-local?
What is a "local" product may just be a matter of perspective based on the extent of your desire to know the extensive history of where that product originates.


Shawn

I love local hardware stores....Brownsboro Hardware is a great example. Personal service and they know who I am.

Mark,

I'm with ya on the local hardware store thing...I spent three years working in one during my college days. I'm pretty sure I acquired more knowledge and skills that are useful in life working in that store than I did the classroom.

Frank Otte, Bunton's, Plant Kingdom for plants. Soon to add Mt. Eden to the list.

I usually shop at Home Depot for my hardware needs. I just know I will be able to find what I need at the big box store vs. the little guy. My hardware store shopping is limited to a few gallons of paint and maybe a Sun. morning plumbing emergency.

If given the choice I would always go with a Louisville, Kentucky/Indiana, U.S. made product vs. the alternative as long as the quality didn't suffer.

A true "local" product or a local product as Shawn describes could be impossible. But choosing the more local of 2 products should be easy.

Right now, I wouldn't buy a Toyota, although it's the most "local" car around (even more locally sourced sub-assemblies than the Ford plant). GE does produce some appliances locally, but most are made in the same jointly owned (with Whirlpool, others) facility in Mexico, we used to go to a local pharmacy, but due to insurance constraints now buy from Kroger, Porter Paint is now a division of PPG, I could go on.

Welcome to the Global Economy!

.How local do you go?

We "go local" in purchasing goods and services the extent that it is convenient and/or provides good value. (please note that I do not define "value" as simply having a lower price)

As a somewhat extreme example I found an excellent local auto mechanic who charged me $500 to do the same work that the Honda dealership across the river was going to charge $1100 for. Convenience and value.

Local versus big box. You will probably get a lot of different answers on this subject John. I believe local to be if the money stays here it is local. I agree with everything that has been written thus far on the subject as well. I shop at The Keg Liquors in Clarksville for beer and liquor needs - Why? Well it is locally owned and operated by Todd Antz, I like Todd and generally like his staff. Todd knows the styles of beers I like and can make good suggestions. The style of beer I like isn't necessarily made locally. So if I had a choice between a Belgium style lager from Colorado or Kentucky I would probably buy the one from Kentucky. Either way the money I spend goes to The Keg - Their employees live here, we all pay taxes here and the profits stay here. FACT - for every $100 you spend at a locally owned establishment $45 stays in the community. At a national chain that number is $13 for every $100 that stays in the community. Although the Walmart's of the world have employees here and pay taxes here, the profits from the sale of goods and services go to Bentonville, Arkansas. So why shop there?
I buy electronics from Charlie Wilson's because I know the family and the money stays here, but they sell the same name brands at Best Buy. I would rather do business locally! I don't think any of us are perfect. I prefer the local hardware store, but I also go to Lowes or Home Depot for convenience. I think we all do. It is making the effort to buy local that makes the difference.

[Robin Garr]

Pretty much in line with the rest of you. Local hardware stores (Oscar's in our neighborhood is excellent; so is St. Matthews. "If you can't find it here, you probably didn't really need it anyway," and the personal service issue is huge.

Wine shops? Note that the old Party Source had Northern Kentucky ownership; now Liquor Barn is run out of Lexington ... goes to that old question, when does a local/regional indie become a chain? Not so much for this reason as location I tend to go to the 100 percent local, small indies: The Wine Rack, Old Town, Wine Market, Gemelli, St. Matthews Wine Co and more, and the Keg across the river, all offer real local ownership and personal service.

How about banks? We are absolutely delighted with Eclipse Bank, locally owned and operated; the president and CEO are right there in the building. Serious level of personal service, and if you have a problem, they don't have to call somebody in Richmond or Pittsburgh.

Do groceries count as "other-than-food"? I try my best to limit my food buying to Doll's, Lotsa Pasta, Rainbow Blossom, Burger's, Seafood Connection and Highland Seafood ...

There's significant "academic" research on the mutually-informing relationship between the local and the global. Even has it's own term, "glocal." The scholarship, surely not "unified" in scope and argument, offers an interesting view of the global and local being on a fluid continuum, as compared to say, an either/or teeter-totter.

Have to think the manufacturing of Japanese vehicles in rural KY and sold, then, all over the world, with the manufacturing and sells windfall benefiting both local communities and international shareholders has to be a pretty good example of such a relationship.

I can't really add much to the conversation other than to stand and be counted. I much prefer singularly owned service businesses rather than big chains. I'm thinking carpet cleaning, plumbing etc. I simply like being able to go into a business, meet the owner and know with whom I'm dealing. St. Matthews Imports takes care of my auto, I buy plants from Thienemans and so on.