Shop local Adelaide.

It’s the holiday season. How does that creep up on us so quickly each year. I don’t know about you, but this year seems to have rolled past at a particularly fast clip. The pageant has been and gone which means your weekends are likely filling up fast with social events and shopping. It starts out fun and often ends up feeling like a chore.

We may find it particularly tiresome this year as supply chain issues delay deliveries and some items are not as readily available in the stores as we expected them to be by now. ABC’s The Drum reported last week that the transport industry is claiming they are at least 100 000 truck drivers short and believe they will not be able to fulfil their delivery obligations in the foreseeable future. Add to that the extensive flooding in the southern and eastern parts of our country, closing many roads and diverting delivery services on longer routes, and it is becoming even more likely that some of the gifts you have ordered online are going to arrive late. What do you do? Do you take a chance, or do you buy a back up gift? Do you really want to spend that extra money right now? Thankfully it seems the government has thwarted threatened industrial action within the tugboat industry, at least for now, but if that flares up again then ships cannot be brought into port and unloaded with essential supplies, and we’ll be eating turkey at Easter time.

Luckily it is also market season here in Adelaide - despite the weathers best efforts to convince us otherwise. From October to February there is an extraordinary range of makers markets filled with the goodies made from local makers, artists and artisans. Did you know: makers and artisans traditionally make 70% of their annual income during the market season? And market attendance is an important part of their brand awareness strategy which helps create income stability for the remainder of the year. They have missed the last couple of seasons due to the pandemic which makes this year particularly important for them. Artisans and makers have been preparing for the season all winter so there is little supply chain risk: what is on their traders table is ready to go home with you right now.

For many of the traders you will see at markets this is how they have chosen to keep their families housed and fed because they struggle to fit in to traditional workplaces. It could be they are the carer for a family member or child and consequently their availability challenges are not able to be accommodated in traditional workplaces. Perhaps they have a lived experience of chronic illness or domestic violence and struggle to have the mental or physical capacity to commit to an organization. Maybe their lived experience is with neurodiversity and find the world to be quite an abrasive experience so have turned their hand to self-employment as a way to manage their exposure to a world that often does not fit them. There are as many reasons for starting a micro enterprise as there are for choosing traditional employment and we are fortunate to live in a world where we can choose caring for our needs and contributing to our community without one negating the other.

Their shop fronts may not be as grand as other retailers, but their skills are equal. Makers, artisans and artists all need solid business expertise. From budgeting and stock management, packaging and waste management, product design and development, taxes and insurance, policy and procedure requirements, customer service and banking, marketing and networking, to name just a few. Then there is the online shopping platforms and social media pages to set up and develop, and very few micro enterprises have the budget to hire someone to do these things for them. It requires long hours of trial and error, endless YouTube tutorials and conversations with helpdesk staff to learn how to do this stuff yourself.

When was the last time you went to a local market? They are a fun way to enjoy your community, there is always great coffee there somewhere, and you can take the dog with you and cross the job off your list for the weekend too. Meet your friends there and have a bite to eat, make some new friends maybe. Hear tales of discovery and hope. Introduce your children to concepts and ideas that will fire up their imaginations and foster dreams of their own entrepreneurial possibilities. Keep your environmental footprint manageable and shop local while increasing the likelihood that you are shopping ethically.

Most importantly though, you will be supporting a group of very talented, creative and resourceful people who are looking for ways to provide income security for themselves and their families while setting a fine example for their

families and communities.

This is the way to buy a gift that keeps on giving, long past December 25.