The following is an article written by Lauren Vanags on her Facebook page. Lauren is the daughter of Marty Vanags, the CEO of the Economic Development Council. She and her fiancé, Skyler, own Culture Shock, a retail clothing and accessory store in Rockford, Ill. If you know Marty, you probably know that he is extremely proud of his daughter, not only for the usual fatherly reasons, but also because of her hard work ethic, business sense and commitment to supporting locally-owned businesses, as shown in this article. While it specifically discusses Rockford, it also holds meaning for every other city and town in the U.S. Please read on and discover how shopping locally can not only benefit your local economy, but also your outlook on where you live:

 

To all of my fellow Rockford-ians with love (and everyone else too)
by Lauren Vanags

Everyday I hear people say, “Rockford Sucks” or “I can’t wait to get out of this place.” For me, Rockford is a place where my businesses reside, It is the place I call home. It is a place where I know people, and people know me. Rockford is where I will get married this fall, and Rockford is where I will be for awhile. I can see the pitfalls of Rockford, however, and I understand why the negative on-lookers say the things they say. But regardless, I love this place, and I never run out of things to do or people to meet.

It took me until a couple years ago to figure out exactly why I love it so much. I should start by saying, my whole life I have been involved in local businesses. My first business at my ripe age of 9 years old, was a can business. I collected cans around the neighborhood and my neighbors all participated because I was just “too darn cute.” Not necessarily a local business, but it got me started.

When I was in middle school, my mom and dad opened a bakery. Not just any bakery, A Dog’s Life Bakery. My mom made gourmet dog biscuits, dog cakes, dog muffins, as well as other doggie and kitty varieties of snacks. I helped out as much as I could, day after day, no payment involved, and persevered with my parents as the business struggled, and gained confidence as the business gained confidence. The business closed for various reasons, but it will always be a great part of my memory, and I know both of my parents will never regret A Dogs Life Bakery, or forget the fun we had with it.

I remember growing up supporting local businesses. My dad seems to hate chain restaurants, so that might be one reason I still don’t like to go to chain restaurants as much as some others I know. I remember my dad and I stopping by Mary’s Market at Edgebrook every weekend. I am not sure what my dad was buying, but I definitely remember the cookie I would get every time! (Double Chocolate Macadamia Nut) I still frequent Mary’s Market on a weekly basis for their 1/2 price Wine and Tapas Tuesday!

Along with working at a corporate restaurant and wasting 4 years of my life there, I also worked at a locally owned business at the mall, and remember talking to the owner a lot about the inner workings. I don’t know if he wanted to tell me about it, but I sure was interested in learning about it.

Then, when I was 19, I met Skyler. Brand new owner of the clothing store that opened up in the storefront underneath my apartment, Culture Shock. I met Skyler a couple months after he had opened the store, and then another couple months later I had my hands in Culture Shock big time. I haven’t stopped since. Now it has been 4 years since the store started, and we thank our lucky stars that we have made it so far.

The conclusion I am trying to wrap up from this, is that I think I never hated Rockford because I was always involved in the MEAT of Rockford. The businesses we have shopped at my whole life, the places I have gone in Rockford, the food I have always eaten, has for the most part been local. Of course I am not saying I never go to Olive Garden, or that I have never shopped at Target. We all have. I am saying that in my life experiences, the service is always better at a local business, the people are always friendlier at a local business, and the people who are at the local business WANT TO BE THERE! Everything is better locally, and those people who own the local businesses, have them in Rockford for a reason, FOR YOU!

When you are constantly surrounded by people who are running their business locally for you, you are NOT exposed to the workers stuck in dead end franchised jobs who hate their jobs and blame employees and customers for not getting their bonuses. You are not in contact with people who can’t wait to go home, or can’t wait for you to leave so they can “close up.” You are rarely exposed to environments and fellow customers that are hostile. Instead you are, in fact, greeted by those people who want to see you, who can’t wait for you to come back, and who want to make your experience the BEST it can possibly be. You ARE exposed to other customers who are experiencing the same great concept that you are. It’s a wonderful thing!

Now a days, I will go to MANY extents to shop/eat local before stepping foot in a corporate place. I try to encourage others to do the same as much as possible. My friends are all awesome, and are always willing to try out the newest local restaurants when we go out. It’s a feel good thing that happens when you shop local, and participate locally, or even work at a locally owned business. It makes you feel more aware of where you live, and it makes you more likely to tell someone about the experience you had at said place.

Anyone who knows Skyler and I, know that if a customer comes into Culture Shock looking for something that we don’t have, we try to point them in the direction of a local business who DOES have what they are looking for. Why?! Because we are sooo passionate about keeping things local, regardless of if we have a certain item in stock or not!

Now, everything I have just said, has been purely opinion, and based on my experiences.
The solid FACTUAL truth is that cities that support their local businesses more have a far better economy. There are many statistics out there that can give you facts and figures. My favorite being the 3/50 project (http://www.the350project.net/home) and Local First (www.localfirst.com)http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockford-IL/Winnebago-Buy-Local/115883611787754

But just to give you the basic rundown from these sites, for every $100 spent in an independently owned store, close to $70 of it returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and expenditures. If you spend $100 of it in a national chain, only around $40 stays in the community. When you shop online, NOTHING stays in our economy.

It’s a big difference when you think of the thousands and thousands of dollars spent in our city every day.

Have you really read all of this?!? I am happy if you have! Please feel free to add onto this note in comment form if you’d like, I would love to know what you have to say.

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As a side note:

Recently, Skyler and I joined forces with some wonderful like-minded people and businesses, Choices Natural Market (on Riverside Blvd), The Rock River Times, and Artale Wine (On Spring Creek Rd) to create a movement and a “coalition of local independent businesses, organizations and citizens in and around Winnebago County, Illinois acting in alliance to keep our communities prosperous and sustainable.” It is a group called WINNEBAGO BUY LOCAL and if you haven’t heard about it yet, you will soon.

Basically, it is going to be the networking, and allied group you want to be in if you are a local business, and it will be the group you want to turn to if you want to find anything local from local dish towels, to local cucumbers, to local travel agencies, to local clothing, and EVERYTHING in between.

Our Vision
To establish a strong network of local independent businesses who have come together to strengthen their position in the market place.

Our Mission
To support and cultivate local independent businesses focused on transforming our local economy toward green jobs, sustainable industries and practices, and buying local first.

Our Goals
Foster a sense of community and give a voice to the local independent businesses, educate the citizens of our community about the importance of buying local, change their buying habits toward buying local first, and shift the balance of power in our community so that locally owned independent businesses can survive and thrive.

Are you as excited about this as we are? You will want to be part of this.

We know you are out there, you people who care about this place that they live in, just like we care about it. You see it’s potential just like we do, and you want others to see what you see in Rockford. Start supporting local businesses, you will feel so good about it.

If you want to know more about Winnebago Buy Local, visit our fan page at

If you want to be a MEMBER of Winnebago Buy Local, then leave us your email address, or email us and we will send you information on how to become a member. This is still in it’s early stages but it will be something that you will want to be a part of.

Feel free to contact me, Lauren Vanags, or Karen King of Choices Natural Market, or any of the other founders of this mega-project.

Rockford is changing right now. We can feel it, you can see it. Be a part of that change. Shop local, you wont regret it!