All too often I find myself searching the internet for new gear on both direct websites and other sites like amazon. However there is another option. We can in-fact buy local gear. While not every city has a local fight shop; many of the larger cities do have fight shops. While on the surface this seems somewhat trivial, it is in fact a great service to our community. So here are the top reasons to support your local fight shop rather than buy online.
The first reason you should shop at your local fight shop is to support a local community pillar. The men and women who open these shops are people who genuinely want to help the martial arts community. Often these people are very active in their community and do a lot for the people who support them. In fact, my local short sponsors many athletes and fight cards/tournaments.
Next is convenience. This one is pretty self-explanatory. One of the things that sucks most about buying gear online is the mail wait. I know I am not the only person who had bought a bunch of new gear and then sat and waited 10 days for it to arrive. This is annoying and can be avoidable if we shop local.
The last reason to shop at local gear shops is to save money. Yes, sometimes shops have to mark products up a little, but not in all cases. Most of the time I have bought things from local shops I have actually received better deals than online. Another important fact is that you save the shipping cost which can in some cases is quite expensive in comparison to our order value.
So if we shop local we get to support a company that supports our community, which is awesome ! However, we also get our gear immediately and we can get better deals ! So why not shop at your local gear shop ?
