This weekend I’m going on a cross-border shopping excursion. I very rarely do this. Sometimes when we pop over the border to visit with our good friend Eddie I make Derek stop at Target so I can get Downy Wrinkle Releaser (not sold in Canada) and stroll the aisles but that’s about it.
However I admired a top on my colleague/friend Jenn and she told me she got it in Port Huron. I’ve been looking for tunic-tops here in London for months and I could have a few if I wanted to pay $325 or so on Richmond Row. But I don’t. So we truly are going over to buy something I can’t find here. Overall, I’m a firm believer in shopping at home. I won’t be coming back with toilet paper or a big screen TV or anything else I can easily buy here.
Recently I’ve started following a woman on Twitter whose focus is on Canadian-made products. Her website Buy Canadian First is chock full of home-grown items ranging from electronics to clothing to – you name it. I check it once a week or so to see what’s new and I think it’s a wonderful endeavour. So many things depend on keeping most of our shopping dollars in Canada; jobs, the economy, our neighbours’ ability to pay their bills. It just makes sense. And if Canadian manufacturers could offer me more than just the occasional affordable tunic, I’d be even happier.