Socially Conscious Shopping

This post has been a long time coming. I haven't really been sure how to put into words my argument because I think its best talked about in conversation.
My partner Morgan and I have challenged ourselves to be more socially responsible with where we shop.
Basically there is a dangerous duopoly in Australia's marketplace. The two companies concerned are Woolworths and Wesfarmers. These companies boast some pretty impressive stats. Woolworths is the largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand, it is the largest food retailer, largest takeaway liquor retailer and largest hotel and poker machine operator in Australia. Guess who is coming second?

I don't know about you but I don't feel entirely comfortable about funnelling all of my money into the two largest companies in Australia, it just doesn't sit right, and you don't need to have a degree in economics to know it aint right.
Isn't it eery going into a small town (i could stop there) and noticing that there are no independent businesses anymore? The old bakery, butchers and grocery store have now been replaced with a coles express, the old bottle shop is now a BWS. The old fuel station is now a caltex. They are all uniform, no different to the Coles, BWS and Caltex in the next town over. They stock sub-par vegetables and mainstream alco-pops, but nobody cares because THEY ARE SO CHEAP! How are they so cheap? Because they have the market by its balls. They muscled out the competition and are now around every corner.
It's sad.

So, we have put a self imposed ban on all establishments owned by either of these companies, and I encourage you to do the same. Don't go to Woolies for your weekly grocery run, go to the Sunday markets, fresh, organic, cheap, Australian made and grown, and this is peoples lively-hood!

Below is a 'No Go' list we have compiled for your reference;

Bottle Shops

1st Choice

BWS

Dan Murphys

Safeway

Vintage Cellars

Woolworth Liquor

Dept Stores

Big W

Bi-Lo

Coles

Dick Smith

Kmart

Office Works

Tandy

Target

Woolworths

Hardware Stores

Bunnings

Masters

Coles Owned Pubs

Bentley Hotel

Civic Hotel

Glengarry Tavern

High Road Hotel

Leopold Hotel

Victoria Park Hotel

ALH Group Pubs

Albion

Balmoral

Belgian Beer Cafe

Belmont Tavern

Brass Monkey

Brighton Hotel

Brooklands Tavern

Bull Creek Tavern

Captain Stirling

Como

Dunsborough Hotel

Gosnells Hotel

Greenwood Hotel

Herdsman

Highway Hotel Bunbury

Hyde Park Hotel

Kalamunda Hotel

Lakers

Leisure Inn

Peel Ale House

Peninsula Tavern

Queens

Royal Palms

Sail & Anchor

Saint George

The Vic

Wanneroo Villa Tavern

Caltex

Give it a crack, we found when we were forced to look for alternatives we uncovered many gems! There is a great little bottle shop around the corner with loads of imported alcohol which has a better range and is cheaper than most places. We are spending less money buying bulk from Kakulas Brothers. We are eating better quality veg shopping at our local European grocers, when we ran out of a particularly hard to find light bulb we ended up finding an adorable family owned hardware store where the sales clerk was more than happy to assist us.

I think this is worth your consideration. Not only are you finding little gems that make your life easier, you are helping local independent business owners that need our patronage far more than these big companies do. When I explained what we were doing to a friend she said to me 'No offence Kelly, but you are just 2 people, what difference can you make?'. Every cent not spent at one of these 'fine establishments' makes a difference. And by spreading the word you can also make a difference. 

If you have a question, thoughts, or  even disagree please comment below, isn't it better to engage in conversation about it than to pretend there isn't an issue?

If you don't see any more posts in the future, Coles or Wesfarmers have put a hit out on me.

Peace
k

EDIT: Others probably could have put this more eloquently than me. Sorry.