Bakersfield Chamber: Shop local for Valentine’s Day
Being locally owned is no minor selling point at Cornerstone Bakery on 19th Street in downtown Bakersfield.
When owner Jennifer Mebane goes on social media to promote her shop’s latest creations — lately, that includes gift baskets, sugar cookies and “everything hearts and love-related” — she makes sure to include the hashtag #familyownedbusiness.
“People, I think, are very aware that we’re a family-owned business,” she said Friday.
And well they should be. Studies indicate locally owned businesses recirculate more money into local economies, according to the Greater Bakersfield Chamber, and they show small businesses create most new jobs.
The chamber is driving that point home this Valentine’s Day with its second annual campaign encouraging people to shop local this holiday — not just to support its members, though that’s part of it, but also because it’s a good idea on several levels.
As chamber President and CEO Nick Ortiz said in a news release on the promotion, local businesses strengthen the area’s economy, as well as its culture and overall well-being.
“They offer us so much to love,” he said. “Shopping local for your Valentine’s Day gifts is a great way to support local retailers who invest a lot of time and energy to curate very special products with Bakersfield in mind.”
The chamber’s Shop Local, Shop Now campaign grew out of a 2021 holiday effort encouraging local residents to check out local retailers, restaurants, hospitality businesses and service providers rather than automatically shop with national chains.
Chamber spokesman Justin Salters said the promotion came on the heels of a pandemic-era trend in which shoppers were turning to e-commerce, which though convenient didn’t necessarily translate to as much support for local businesses that tend to contribute heavily to the local community.
These days, in collaboration with the Kern Women’s Business Center, the effort is partly a way for the business group to help out its local members.
The campaign’s website, ShopLocalShopNow. com, features an interactive map of all chamber members in those categories. There’s also an offer for businesses that give a shout-out to @ bakochamber on Instagram, or which make use of the campaign’s social media hashtags of #ShopLocalShopNow and #BakoChamber, to be featured in the membership organization’s Instagram feed.
Customers at Russo’s Books get it. Denise Wilson, coordinator of children’s events for the bookseller that has been local and independently owned for more than three decades, said people come in understanding the value of shopping local, to the point that they bring it up and discuss it.
That’s great, she said, because it’s those locally owned businesses that keep money local, create jobs and, in Russo’s case, support local literacy.
All that said, Wilson observed that Bakersfield shoppers have always made a point to support local businesses. And there’s a good reason for it.
“There are many vibrant and amazing local businesses here,” she said.