Years ago, I began a small home business baking bread from freshly ground flour. It failed. Not because of the bread, of course — the bread was amazing. But, like many other small Makers, it was too difficult to connect to shoppers, and too hard to win against the convenience of large stores.
Later, as I began looking to buy from local small businesses rather than giant corporations, I found myself failing from the opposite side: as a shopper, I had trouble connecting with local Makers in my area unless I visited a Farmers Market every Saturday morning. Even then, I missed having the ability to read reviews, to compare products from different Makers, or simply to think about it for a while before making a purchase.
This is how localized.shop was born.
I imagined an online marketplace where shoppers could view a variety of items from different Makers in their area, all at once. A marketplace where I could search for handmade soap and see all of the options from the talented people in my community.
Why switch to handmade and homegrown products? For me, there are two main reasons. First, I have lost all faith in the big brands to keep their products safe for consumers. Second, I would prefer my dollars stay in my community and support my neighbors rather than enrich the executives and shareholders of giant corporations.
I am excited to begin reaching out to local artisans near me and build out this marketplace with clean, local products. Follow along on Instagram @localized.shop
Stefannie
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