Local Shops: The Heartbeat of North Carolina Culture

North Carolina is special. If you've lived here for any length of time, you can see it. Obvious reasons include the beautiful mountains to the west and the peaceful wide open sandy beach towns along the coast but there's so much more the state has to offer.

When our family moved here over 10 years ago, we immediately experienced a friendly, genuineness that's missing in many of the faster paced large cities. I have to say that I have yet to see an area so culturally and racially diverse as our great state. Cultures meld and form a unique beauty all its own that's full of caring hospitality, a genuine openness to slow down and see you for who you are in that moment and interact, welcoming you into the community.

Local shops epitomize this culture. They are the heartbeat of our North Carolina communities, ebbing and molding based on their specific regions. From the faster paced pull of Charlotte that welcomes all people regardless of who you are, to the tech driven Triangle region that has housed individuals and families from all around the world drawing the best and the brightest, to the many college towns that display their hometown pride unabashedly.

Personalized Service and Product Selection

Have you ever entered a local business, knowing you'll find what you need but been surprised at just how knowledgeable the shop owner is with you coming away from the exchanged bettered by their unique ability to provide a listening ear but also a solution when a problem is at hand?

In this way, local shops often know their communities in a way that large box stores never can and they adjust their products and services to fit the needs of their community. Many of these stores specifically choose to partner with local makers and creators to source their products, resulting not just in a positive impact financially within our local economies but also unique, quality, often handmade products for us as consumers.

Community Investment

Local shops often invest in the very communities that they're a part of, whether that's through sponsoring or hosting local events, donating to charities, or collaborating with schools and non-profits to provide training and education or fulfill community specific needs. Communities that are more vibrant, stable and resilient are naturally the result of these types of concentrated efforts.

Social Impact

With our world continually becoming more digitally focused, local businesses provide a physical space for social connection for residents that's safe and low-risk in a world where in person connection is becoming increasingly harder to achieve.

These local businesses often have a strong pulse on different issues and needs that a community faces and can use their platform to advocate for change and policies that promote community development and a more vibrant community that people are further drawn to.