5chw4r7z:: the ethos of downtown Cincinnati

I've preached this for years, your dollars are votes, and when you spend money in your neighborhood/city at a locally owned shop you are voting for the kind of neighborhood you want to live in.
Do you want vibrant streets or boarded up windows?
Shopping local also gives you access to products your neighbors have created, unique quality gifts that will stand the test of time and no one else will have. Your money will compound since artists are essentially small businesses. 73% of money spent at a locally owned business stays in your neighborhood while only 40% of the money spent at a chain will.
You can also avoid mall traffic by riding the Cincinnati Streetcar or Cincinnati Metro to a neighborhood business district to shop local!
You get the neighborhood you deserve when you make your shopping decisions.
I found two local blog posts listing some cool local places to support and shop. The lists are by no means exhaustive but they are a start. Just visiting these will expose you too all the other cool shops in the area. But you don't have to travel to OTR or downtown to find cool stuff, look for the closet neighborhood business district to where you live and support them.
Nia the YP and 3 Reasons to #ShopSmall
Tour de Cincinnati and her Favorite Five