As spring arrives and the downtown shopping season picks up, I want to remind my neighbors of something easy to forget in a world of one-click ordering: local businesses are the backbone of what makes Fox Valley worth living in.
When you buy from a shop on State Street or Third Street, that owner is the person who sponsors your kid's Little League team and shows up at city hall to fight for a stoplight at a dangerous intersection.
Amazon doesn't do that. Walmart doesn't do that.
I'm asking us to think before defaulting to the easiest option. Give the local place a shot first.
— Margaret Holbrook, St. Charles