How can you support local businesses? Family-owned businesses are forced to make difficult decisions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Do I lay off some of my most loyal employees or close my business altogether? Do I declare bankruptcy or try to hang on? With situations like this happening in America and worldwide, small businesses desperately need your help. Although it may be hard to get around your city, you can still make a difference. Indeed, you can support your favorite restaurant or retail store by going online. And by doing so, you also do much more to support the local economy.
How to Support Local Businesses During COVID
Food Delivery
If you have a favorite locally owned restaurant, contact them directly to see if providing a food delivery service. However, the most widely used method is to order online through a food delivery service, like Grubhub or UberEats. Moreover, the most popular method is with DoorDash. Be that as it may, even other delivery services are closer to home. However, more extensive companies offer free delivery and special deals like discounted subscriptions. Visit their website and enter your zip code to search for local businesses. Either way, you are helping out restaurants in their most incredible time of need.
Related: Five Reasons To Visit Sacramento
Check The Zip Code
For example, enter the California zip code. You will find locally owned restaurants like Charlie Hong Kong and Roux Dat Cajun Creole. As the demand for delivery services grows, DoorDash and others are offering delivery jobs, another benefit to the community.
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Buy Local Products
Farmers markets are still essential in providing healthy, nutrient-rich foods. This means that by visiting a farmers’ market, you can purchase the most nutritious produce and other artisan goods and help support farmers, purveyors, and other local businesses. Due to the coronavirus, food booths may not be available,e although foods prepared and packaged at off-site commercial kitchens should be. There are some caveats, of course, in visiting a farmers market, large or small. That’s primarily due to the pandemic. However, as conditions improve, you can feel more at ease at farmers markets. What’s more, you can even socialize with vendors and friends.
Visit The Website of a Local Farmer
You can visit t a local farmer’s website and find out if you can order directly from the source. Alternatively, you can find a business representing several farmers for artisan food deliveries, like Farm Fresh To You, Farmbox Dirc, and Farm to Pehers. If grocery stores are your only option, try purchasing items you know are grown or produced locally. Although you may get a better price at grocery stores, the quality won’t be as good.
Related: Best Farmers Markets In San Francisco
Online Retail Businesses
Like restaurants, many retail businesses are severely hampered by the coronavirus. Whether it’s a brick-and-mortar store, online retail,r or both, you can help local businesses get through this current situation. However, some are completely open, like pharmacies, grocery, and hardware stores; other local companies greatly need community support; for instance, retail clothing stores, which, like restaurants, may be forced to close working with a skeleton crew under social distancing conditions.
Santa Cruz-Based WVN
This is happening to exceptional retailers like Santa Cruz-based WVN, who provide premium organic cotton clothing while only using fair labor practices. While WVN has a small walk-in store, it relies more heavily on online sales through its official website and providers like Amaand, QVCd, and Whole Foods. With the current situation still uncertain, it’s all but likely there is a similar retail clothing business or more in your city that you can help support.
Related: Santa Cruz County Businesses To Support
Buy Gift Cards
With news of empty shelves at grocery and big box stores everywhere, it’s precise that these necessities are in great demand. However, you can also support local businesses by purchasing a gift card directly through its website, even if you don’t need anything. It may also be an excellent time to use a gift card as virtually every online retailer, like Synergisare, currently hosts over 50 percent off sales.
Helps Older Adults
Perhaps most importantly, gift cards can also benefit people in need. For instance, older adults may need food and merchandise delivered to them. Some gift cards come with incentives, such as an extra $20 for purchasing a $100 gift card. After buying a gift card, the card’s value can be delivered electronically via a unique code. However, sharing that code with others who may abuse the gift card is very important.
Use Social Media To Promote Local Businesses
Whether you live in San Francisco, Santa Cruz,z, or elsewhere, you can help local businesses through social media. Since more and more people are staying home, writing or sharing positive reviews on Facebook, Insta,grnd, Twi, etc..It should be a task. Moreover, it can influence readers to become potential new customers and retain current ones as quickly as possible. On the other hand, other online sites can benefit local businesses. For example, you can write a positive review on Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor. What’s more, if you write several reviews, you might be able to receive incentives from those review sites.
Food Delivery Apps
Social media sites may also have a food delivery search option built into their apps. You can also search through online review sites like Yelp for top-rated local restaurants that offer food delivery services. Either way, chances are you may be finding yourself more online. If that’s the case, try taking advantage of your time in a way that benefits yourself, friends, and family. Of course, using food delivery can help businesses and people in your community or even beyond. All in all, food delivery services have become quite popular during the pandemic.
About The Author:
Randy Yagi is an award-winning freelance writer who served as the National Travel Writer for CBS from 20 to 2 2019. More than 900 of his stories still appear in syndication across 23 CBS websites, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. During his peak years with CBS, Randy had a reported digital audience reach of 489 million and 5.5 million monthly visitors. Additionally, his stories have appeared in the Daily Meal, CBS News, CBS Radio, Engadget and Radio.com. He earned a Media Fellowship from Stanford University in 2012.
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