Help your neighbors, Wichita: Shop local, even if you’re staying home

As coronavirus-related closures and cancellations sweep across the Wichita area, it’s tempting to just hunker down and throw up our hands.

It all seems beyond our control. Self-quarantines and social distancing have us feeling isolated, helpless and discouraged. We wash our hands, cough into our sleeves. We clean, clean, clean.

But is there anything we can really do to make things better?

Yes.

Now, more than ever, we need to think local with our pocketbooks and purchasing power. Small businesses, restaurants and retailers in the Wichita area need help if they’re going to survive this unprecedented crisis.

“We’re all in this together,” said Mary Wright, owner of the Old Mill Tasty Shop in downtown Wichita. “This is a time we need to take care of our neighbors.”

It was unclear Monday whether Kansas would follow the lead of other states and order restaurants and bars to close their doors to dine-in customers, but Wichita-area restaurateurs were prepping for the worst. Many have scaled back their hours, ramped up curbside-pickup services or pointed people toward carryout meals.

The “eat local” movement has never been more important. If you’d like something tasty during your Netflix marathon or family game night, consider grabbing something from a locally owned restaurant — and Wichita has plenty.

Local retailers and other small businesses need the community to rally around them as well.

Kenzie Borland, part owner of Dead Center Vintage, launched a website Monday aimed at helping support Wichita’s small businesses through the COVID-19 scare.

The site, ictshopsmall.com, features an extensive list of local restaurants, retail shops, photographers, artists, musicians and others trying to weather the crisis, with tips on how customers can help.

Some offer online shopping with pick-up or home delivery. Others suggest buying a gift card to use whenever things get back to normal.

“It will probably get worse before it gets better,” Borland said.

She launched the website because she was home and bored and wanted to help. A form on the site invites locally owned businesses and freelancers to add their names to the list, and she plans to continue updating it.

“It’s nice, because now I have a project instead of staring out the window and being sad,” she said.

So much about the coronavirus is unknown — how bad it will be, how long it will last, how it will affect local employers and the global economy. That’s scary and sad.

But we know this: If our community has any chance of weathering this crisis, we need to stick together and help one another. That means checking on older relatives, sharing supplies, taking reasonable precautions, “flattening the curve.”

And it means being thoughtful about our purchases. If you’re able to buy something, buy local.