Why do we need BLoC?

[devonshiredeli]

I know that there are many projects and institutions all over the country doing their bit to espouse the need to buy local and I commend them for their efforts and hope they all do well and succeed.

The problem I can see is that they are all disassociated from one another. What the country needs is a common banner that can be easily recognised by all, especially the general buying public. The BLoC logo will fulfil this need once it is displayed on market stalls, shop windows and web sites.

We also need a common forum so that all these organisations and of course, the general buying public, can share their opinions to produce a 'best practise' approach to buying locally.

Use the logo.
Give your opinion.
Help make the ethos of buying locally as commonly known as Keeping Britain Tidy (probably not a good example as it seems these days nobody cares much about disposing of their plastic properly but I'm sure you know what I mean).

[JohnSimkin]

I agree that everyone should buy as much as they can locally. I recently spent a week at Sea Palling and was very impressed by the local shop that stocked goods from the area. Not only that, they were very competitively priced. This included some great local beers.

[pixelcolor]

I've always made a bee-line for the local shop anywhere I go. Hypermarkets may be convenient in only one sense - the all-in-one approach, but the village shop offers much more from the human side of life and we invariably give something back by being a customer there.

There's little true satisfaction in wheeling a trolley full of mass-produced foodstuffs back to your car once a week. Popping into the shop on the High Street now and again to pick up some groceries and have a chat lifts the spirit.

Local produce; usually of natural origin, needs greater promotion to not only subsist but to help increase demand thus lowering costs while still maintaining quality. Large food chains basically follow the same idea - the more they sell the greater their capacity for juggling prices, however, quality is definitely not their raison d'être despite claims to the contrary.

Buying locally - you better feed your body and your mind too.

[somersetdeli]

I am a market trader.
I buy my produce from within my county and take it to markets all over the same county.
The market experience is as far removed from the supermarket experience as you can get.
I know my regular customers. We have a relationship beyond mere commerce. My day can be changed, my mood can be lifted by a quick chat or comment from a customer. Not to mention the banter between traders.
Markets are just micro village centres. You see all walks of life, all classes rubbing shoulders (sometimes literally).

When i go to a supermarket i just want to be i n and out. I may have a quick hello with the person on the check out, but i will very rarely stop and have a banter with a stranger on the deli counter. I loathe the places. I resent using them and i plan to phase out the supermarket shop entirely.

This is why we need bloc..
To re humanise shopping. Make shopping about contact with other people.
To educate people HOW to shop locally. It may take a little more time and effort. But convenience and speed are not everything.
To gradually get people to change their priorities and be a little less self absorbed.