Jeremy Neff, Post 3

“Where were you last weekend, and the weekend before that?” the bartender shot back when I complained that Courtyard Café’s kitchen was closed too early on Friday of Bockfest weekend.  They were short-staffed because of the blizzard, but that didn’t change the fact that we were hungry and running out of options (Lucy Blue pizza window turned out to be our salvation).

Shauntae had a point.  If I wanted Main Street to have a variety of late night dining options I needed to patronize places that provide that service more often than during the occasional festival.  “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Gandhi was talking about more important things than pizza at one in the morning, but you get the point.

That offhand remark by the bartender at Courtyard Café is part of the impetus behind the BuyCincy Holiday Guide.  The guest contributors are all folks who have committed to putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to having a great city.

Why don’t more people spend their time and money at locally-owned businesses?  I think there are two main reasons.  First, it is easier to go to the familiar.  Shopping, especially around the holidays, can be a real pain.  Why potentially prolong the pain by going to unfamiliar shops when everything you could possibly need can be found at a big-box store?  Second, there is the perception that shopping locally is more expensive.

In my experience, shopping locally does take longer, but not always for the reasons you would expect.  When I go to a big chain store I get in a zone, quickly seek out what I want, and keep time at the check-out to a minimum.  It is not a pleasant experience, the other folks there (workers and customers) seem generally unhappy, and I want it all to be over with as soon as possible.  When I shop locally I get to know the owners and workers, as well as other customers.  I linger to chat about neighborhood news, plans for the future, and sometimes just to soak in the atmosphere (Findlay Market trips can become particularly prolonged for this last reason).

In fairness, local businesses can’t even come close to the marketing power of big chains.  It is not surprising that people know more about shops at the mall down the highway than they do about the ones right in their neighborhood.  That’s where www.buycincy.com comes in.  They profile local businesses throughout Greater Cincinnati year-round, and are currently running the Holiday Guide with a focus on holiday shopping.  Not finding what you need there?  Let them know, or, better yet, do a little investigative journalism yourself and let them know what you find.

The issue of cost is not as easily dismissed.  As a preliminary matter, price differentials really depend on what you are buying, and transportation costs are quickly eating away at the price advantage offered by some chain stores.  I find that I save quite a bit of money at farmers’ markets, and mom and pop restaurants have offered “value menus” since well before fast-food chains became the default eateries for hungry Americans.

But more fundamentally, you aren’t getting the same thing when you buy Product A at a big-box retailer versus the comparable Product A at a locally-owned business.  My prior posts have spoken at length of the benefits of local shopping: walkable neighborhoods, superior customer service, and an enjoyable experience just to name a few.  These things don’t just happen on their own – they happen because you are shopping locally.  In other words, you aren’t just buying Product A at a locally-owned store; you are buying a stronger city, a happier day, and, if you’re lucky, gemütlichkeit.

Jeremy Neff, Post 2

I woke up this past Saturday morning to see the city with a beautiful coating of snow with big, fluffy flakes continuing to fall.  The news reported that the highways were getting a little sloppy, but I had no plans to drive anywhere.  Our home in the West End is within easy walking distance of the Over-the-Rhine and downtown restaurants and shops.  It was the perfect day to do some local shopping for the BuyCincy Holiday Guide.

On my way to the Gateway Quarter I noticed that Minges Candy was open.  Never having been there I didn’t know what to expect, but that’s part of the local shopping experience.  The friendly manager showed me around and pointed out the candy canes made by Doscher’s, a candy shop just a few blocks from my house.  One of the other customers showed me some of her favorite sweets.  Minges was a good find, and I’ll definitely be going back.

Laden with a sack of candy that would make a trick-or-treater jealous, I proceeded to Vine Street.  I stopped in to pick up a couple items at Park + Vine and to check out the plants at City Roots on my way to Metronation.  I ended up buying some candles there, but the real reason I stopped in was to chat with the owners, who happen to live down the street from me.  Supporting your neighbors is a big part of what it means to shop local.

Next up was a quick visit with one of the owners of the Joseph Williams furniture store which recently relocated to the Gateway Quarter.  I congratulated him on a great new space, and continued on to Main Street.  There I talked about the local art scene and picked up a gift at Urban Eden, stopped in a few temporary craft shops where I bought some earrings and was offered cookies and hot cider, lingered over the delectables at Shadeau Bread, and then proceeded downtown.

Downtown is my beat for the BuyCincy Holiday Guide, so I’d already done some shopping at the Ohio Bookstore and City Cellars fine wine shop.  I stopped in a few places and went to the Duke train display, but I really just wanted to see Fountain Square decked out for the holidays, crowded with happy skaters, and dusted with snow.  I was not disappointed (the waffle and hot chocolate I got at the Taste from Belgium tent by the rink didn’t hurt, either).  Far from the maddening crowds at the suburban malls I got to experience what holiday shopping is supposed to be like.

Do yourself a favor this holiday season.  Resolve to spend a portion of your holiday budget on local shopping.  Pick up a bottle of wine at the neighborhood wine shop and go to Findlay Market for some cheese for your holiday party.  Pass up the chain coffee store and get your caffeine fix from an independent shop when you need to re-energize for more gift-buying.  And while you’re at it, find a few of those gifts at locally-owned businesses.  Check out the Holiday Guide at www.buycincy.com if you need more ideas – there will be posts from all over the city.  No need to wait for the New Year for this resolution.

Jeremy Neff, Post 1

Gemütlichkeit.

Before moving to Cincinnati five years ago this word was as foreign to me as "goetta," "who dey?" "cornhole," and alternate uses of the word please.

I still have a hard time defining gemütlichkeit, but I know it when I’m experiencing it.  Meeting up with friends for burritos and bluegrass at the Comet.  Having a snowball fight walking home from Bockfest during the blizzard.  Discussing recipes with the folks at Madison's or Herbs and Spice at Findlay Market.  Playing Apples to Apples at Grammer’s.  Singing a few bars from Aida with downtown barber Fausto Ferrari while he cuts my hair.  Spending a warm Oktoberfest afternoon in the Spaten tent.  Spending a cold February night at a City Cellars wine tasting when a heavy coat of ice shut down all but foot traffic.

I never thought I would call Cincinnati home.  I was going to be here for three years of school.  If everything went just right I would get an offer from the firm that inspired me to be a lawyer, I’d move back north to Columbus, and all would be good.  Regardless, I certainly wouldn’t stay in a city that my northern Ohio upbringing taught me was hardly even worth mentioning unless the Browns were playing the Bengals.  I worked hard, things went just right, and I did get that dream job offer.  And like a lot of people my age I chose a city first, job second.  By the time that offer came I had chosen my city: Cincinnati.

I don’t know exactly when it happened.  Gemütlichkeit is like that.  That sense of comfort and belonging becomes so ingrained in your psyche that it is hard to remember when it wasn’t there.  Maybe it was the first time I entered Music Hall and had my breath taken away – not just by the remarkable beauty of the structure and the sound of the symphony, but by the fact that I was part of a city that so values the arts that it built and maintains such a monumental temple of the arts.

It might have been at one of the festivals and celebrations that fill the calendar here.  Maybe while I toasted the haggis with a glass of scotch at Nicholson’s for Burns Night.  Perhaps when I looked over and saw Bootsy Collins nodding along to the same music I was enjoying at Know Theatre during Midpoint Music Festival.  It could have been while I was sipping contraband bourbon from a flask at Tall Stacks while getting a lesson in Cincinnati’s musical heritage from none other than Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.

Whenever it was, I am sure of one thing: it was at a local business or local event.  Gemütlichkeit does not lend itself well to mass replication.  It requires a degree of identity – of soul – that can’t be put in a box and shipped from place to place.  While comfort and leisure are hallmarks of gemütlichkeit it doesn’t happen without some effort.  Local businesses, events, and organizations require a commitment from the community to sustain them.

With that in mind, I approached the people at www.buycincy.com about putting together a holiday shopping guide that featured guest contributors from throughout the city writing about their experiences making a conscious effort to spend at least some of their holiday shopping dollars at locally owned businesses.  BuyCincy already profiles local shops and restaurants, so the Holiday Guide is sort of a reality-tv take on the good work they do throughout the year.

Check out BuyCincy’s Holiday Guide, and head to a local business in your neighborhood for a little gemütlichkeit of your own.