You bring up a very good point about the way an idea like shopping locally is obviously intertwined with larger issues of development and disparity in any city. It can make a task like shopping locally — or, for another example, not using a car — a very difficult one.

But I’m not sure I’d go so far to say it’s “not feasible.” It might be massively inconvenient, I’ll give you that, but one could still try and shop locally in the more developed parts of the city even when living elsewhere. Each neighborhood is not an island (well, with the exception of “The Island” at JSQ). I don’t want to give the impression that I’m getting all holier-than-though on you here, because I’m not. (When I lived in the Heights, I faced a similar dilemma, and convenience — more often than not — won out.) I just wanted to point out that there still are choices (while understanding that some of those choices are literally extremely difficult for people to make because of a lack of services, disparity in development, etc. ).

One thing is certain: The idea of buying locally — and its practice — can be a complicated one, as the comments on this story thus far clearly illustrate.

As for groceries, the two closest markets – Met Foods and a veggie market, have been shut down repeatedly for health inspection violations. I still buy stuff at both, but working in Manhattan means I can buy a pepper that isn’t half-rotted, or things I can’t get around the corner, like fennel, soy products, or meat formy husband that isn’t pumped full of chemicals. It costs more and I’m not buying in my neighborhood which I really would prefer, but that’s the trade off. Now that the farmers market is back in JSQ, I’m psyched. But even that doesn’t mean I’m buying from JC businesses.

So, while I think Jon’s argument is a good one (and to me, the economic reasons are secondary), for many of us here in JC, it’s just not feasible.

Certainly there are some shades of gray in the buy-local movement — what about franchisees, for example? The points you raise are legitimate, but the thing that a buy-local advocate would point out is that buying locally is indeed an economic multiplier. The more money you put into the local economy, the more will continue to circulate within that economy, via taxes, donations, wages, etc. as mentioned in the story. Over time, that by far and away erases any cost differential — real or perceived — that an individual might benefit from by buying non-locally. (The advocates I spoke with also pointed out a bigger issue, which is the idea of “cost” as being more than just the purchase point of an object — there is a large environmental cost, for instance, of trucking and flying in produce and supplies from all over the world; just as there is a large social cost of relying on slave labor in a third-world country, etc.)

Certainly, many of us may work for a non-local company, buy goods that are non-local, and the like, but the folks in the movement make the argument — which I believe is a compelling one — that buying locally *when you can* is a boon to the local economy.

There is a strong case for not trying to buy locally. First, if you want Dunkies and you guilt yourself into buying higher-priced or slower-service local coffee, you have just wasted money and/or time. This clearly hurts a member of the local economy: you.

Second, we all benefit from the non-local economy. Especially in a place like Jersey City, many if not most of us work non-locally, work for a company that is not locally owned, or may even think of ourselves as somewhat non-local. Should we really throw rocks from this glass house?

Third, it’s not necessary. JC is creating some great culinary, cultural and commercial innovation. Let’s embrace that and not snub our noses if some of it is put up by a dude from Philly, Boston or Swaziland.