November 23, 2006

Editorial

Shopping in town warms you thrice

Chopping wood, the old adage goes, warms you twice: first, the body feels warmed by exercise and second, the house feels warmed by wood. In this holiday season, villagers might consider that shopping in their hometown stores will warm them, and their community, in at least three ways.

First, downtown shoppers will find in Yellow Springs gifts to please even the most persnickety or discriminating relative. They’ll find handcrafted earrings, hand-thrown mugs and hand-made stained glass, along with one-of-a-kind clothing, books and toys. They’ll find birdfeeders, bath salts and beds, plus paintings, poetry and power tools. They can purchase gift certificates for massages, manicures or the best movies around. And they’ll find these things in small, cozy, independently-owned shops in a small, cozy town that motivates out-of-towners to jump in their cars and drive for miles. We can walk.

Secondly, when they shop downtown, villagers invest in the health of their town. While villagers may disagree about — well, almost everything — everyone agrees that Yellow Springs’ vibrant downtown is the heart of the village. It’s the place we go to drink coffee, grab a bite or just hang out and chat with friends on the street. We’re lucky — go to most small midwestern towns and you’ll see vacant storefronts and empty sidewalks. But luck doesn’t make a lively downtown — shoppers do. Many downtown businesses struggled since the economy tanked after 9/11; some shopowners say things look brighter with the newly energized Chamber of Commerce. But some shops still struggle and all know competition for shopping dollars is fierce. A recent Beavercreek competitor, The Greene, is the new mall that tries to create a village-like setting. Don’t be fooled. Choose the real thing. It’s where you already are.

Finally, when we shop downtown, we strengthen the village in other, less obvious ways. In the article on page 8 of this week’s News about the new Web site ysengaging.org, Kathy Hale speaks about social capital, the concept urban planners use to describe citizens’ level of commitment to their town. The more we engage with each other — whether over coffee or our kids’ swim team or singing in the Community Chorus — the more we strengthen our ability to engage in other ways too, including addressing knotty local problems. So urban planners might say that shopping downtown builds social capital; we might just say, it’s fun.

Downtown business people have decorated for the holiday season, stuffed their shops with good things and are just waiting for us to waltz in. An excellent time to do so would be the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Holiday in the Village, Dec. 2–3, or anytime before or after. You might feel the warmth of the holiday season enhanced by the warmth of your village. See you downtown.

—Diane Chiddister