Article 9 – The Commercial Relationship between the Local and the Global: Thompsonites’ Consumer Values

Recently, there has been a growing concern that local cultures are being dominated by global forces. As global brands make their way into communities across the world, some people may fear that eventually, local brands will not be able to compete. However, Bryant Simon, the author of “Global Brands Contend with Appreciation for the Local,” theorizes that as the effects of globalization have become more prominent, the value of local cultures will increase. Furthermore, Simon analyzes the consumerism aspect of globalization and the way it has affected consumer preferences when choosing between global and local brands. Although global companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s continue to serve millions of customers around the world every day, Simon concludes that people are increasingly attracted to independent and local coffeehouses by arguing that “farmers’ markets [and] bring-your-own-bottle restaurants” bring “new appeal in the US emerging economy of the small”i to the local business. Therefore, globalization, ironically, is driving up the demand for more choices in local culture and products. This shift in consumer trends toward local products can also be found within the city of Thompson, Manitoba. According to a 2016 Census Profile provided by Statistics Canada, Thompson has a population of 12,878 residents and is the largest municipality in Northern Manitoba.ii Thompsonites, and those living in communities outside of the city, rely on global brands for many of their shopping needs because of the remote, northern location.iii However, because of the uniformity of these global brands, consumers increasingly value local businesses and products. Northern Manitobans continue to purchase locally made goods such as Manitoba Mukluks, which have given Manitoban Indigenous people an opportunity to share their culture with more and more consumers around the world. Small businesses in Thompson like Santa Maria Pizza, the Heritage North Museum, and even the campus bookstores at University College of the North locations strive to make meaningful connections with their communities to draw consumers away from global companies like Amazon and Domino’s. Simon’s conclusions about how globalization has increased interests in local products have been proven as consumers continue to shop locally despite the popularity of global brands.

Many people fear that global brands, such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Subway, are threatening local businesses as they continue to expand across the globe. According to Simon, Starbucks is striving “to create a transnational setting, distinct from any one locale or nation that [is] nonetheless still everywhere.”iv Like Starbucks, most global brands are designed to offer sameness and consistency in different locations. Upon entering a global brand location, consumers will know what to expect from their shopping experience. They already know the building’s general design, what is on the menu, where the bathrooms are, and which aisle they can find their favorite peanut butter. The uniformity of Starbucks locations is meant to attract consumers to enter the location. However, latte drinkers from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon, are weary “of the lack of choice posed by Starbucks.”v Evidently, these latte drinkers are seeking local coffee shops and craving a more authentic experience. The desire for authenticity in coffee culture has also been a trend in Thompson. Northern Flavours was a café located in Thompson that provided consumers with unique drinks and baked goods. The atmosphere projected a stereotypical coffeehouse vibe complete with bookshelves, mismatched coffee mugs, and large couches for customers to sit on while they enjoyed their beverage. Unfortunately, on February 10th, 2012, Northern Flavours permanently closed its doors to the public due to ongoing staffing issues and now operates as a catering service; therefore, Thompson no longer has any locally-owned coffeehouses.vi Although global brands such as McDonald’s, Starbucks and Tim Hortons are the major coffee providers in the city, some Thompsonites still enjoy a coffee or latte without relying on global brands. The lack of local coffee shops has resulted in some residents creating their own lattes and cappuccinos at home, particularly the Thompsonites. As Bryce Buchanan and Laurel Appell think, making caffeinated beverages at home is special. Buchanan and Appell believe that you can be proud of the coffee you make at home.vii You are responsible for the taste, not some barista at Starbucks. Therefore, when the drink you are making turns out well, you can be proud of your accomplishment.viii Thus, residents are creating the personal connection to the product that they desire.

Coffee corner in Buchanan and Appell’s kitchen.

Economists continue to study changing consumer trends such as the growing demand for local products and an informed shopping experience. Scheherazade Daneshkhu of the Financial Times magazine explains that consumers, particularly millennials, “want committed brands with authentic products. Natural, more local and if possible small, as small as you can.”ix These consumers “want to know what is in the products they buy and where they come from, demanding curbs on plastic and waste.”x This new demand means that global brands are facing “increasing pressure as this generation of consumers seeks ‘authenticity’… In this climate, big brands are losing out to smaller companies.”xi As more people look to social media for information, they now have the tools to become informed shoppers. Access to the Internet provides an unlimited amount of information for consumers to research products and companies, allowing them to form their own opinions about local and global brands. Consumers now want to recognize the ingredients in their products and have a local connection with where the product came from.

Although global brands such as chain restaurants have expanded into Thompson, residents continue to seek out local businesses. Domino’s and Pizza Hut have proven to be exceedingly popular restaurant chains, and they offer Thompsonites more variety in restaurant choices. Both brands are renowned for their fast service and offer convenient ways to order through their app, website or over the phone. Although both brands offer customers more convenient ways to order, Thompsonites continue to patronize Santa Maria Pizza, a family-owned business. The process of ordering from Santa Maria Pizza has always been special: for over forty years, a real person from the same Greek family has answered the phone to receive orders, whereas Domino’s and Pizza Hut both have automated messages to greet their customers. Simon explains that the expansion of global brands generates a “grassroots pushback, [and] an assertion of the enduring value of particular places, tastes and traditions.”xii Santa Maria Pizza has delivered a familiar interaction to consumers that continues to preserve a local nostalgia—a feeling that global brands cannot replicate.

Globalization has provided consumers with the ease and convenience of internet shopping. Even so, many people are seeking a deeper connection to their own culture. In Northern Manitoba, consumers are forced to rely on global brands for a large number of products. Companies that operate globally can ship products that are not readily available in this region and keep costs similar to those found in larger cities. Although consumers residing in Northern Manitoba must rely on global brands, they still seek local alternatives to majority retailers. Amazon has become a global titan with its sales and distribution of books, and their website states that books “are in our DNA at Amazon—it’s where we started and it’s core to who we are.”xiii Amazon also offers textbooks at a slightly lower price and provides students with a coupon code if they order three or more textbooks. The company attracts consumers with lower prices, free shipping (on orders over $35.00) and coupon codes. Although global brands like Amazon continue to entice consumers with competitive prices and deals, “Many people still prefer to read books written originally in their native language, and about their native culture.”xiv Local businesses like the Heritage North Museum and the UCN bookstore offer a fair selection of books and items like birch bite hangings, honey and furs from local creators at reasonable prices. Another option for Canadians looking for a new favorite read is Chapters. It is a Canadian bookstore chain that continues to promote Canadian content and supports its local community. The company focuses its operations within Canada with eighty-eight locations across the country.xv During a visit to their store, customers will find numerous titles by Indigenous authors on display and learn that each store regularly hosts talks with authors and book signings. In addition to participating in special events at the store, customers value the experience of walking through aisles of books and physically interacting with potentially interesting reads. Even though Chapters also offers online shopping, Amazon cannot replicate this personal, in-store experience. Customers must rely on pictures, descriptions, and buyer reviews to determine if they are interested in the book. Hence, customers can be more comfortable purchasing from local sources instead of purchasing items through globalized brands. People who choose to shop at Chapters are also investing in the social responsibility of the company. Consumers who value local brands and choose to buy books from companies like Chapters believe that it is “the social responsibility level of the company that makes a product [and] bolsters or diminishes the value.”xvi In addition, the company gives back to the community by helping to address the “underfunding of Canadian elementary school libraries.” According to Chapters’ parent company (Indigo) website, “The Foundation accomplishes this goal through its annual Literacy Fund grant of $1.5 million and its grassroots Adopt a School program which unites Indigo staff, local schools and their communities to raise money for new and engaging books for elementary school libraries.”xvii Consumers will likely support these local initiatives because they value companies that project social responsibility. Thus, if a company shows value in their community, local consumers are more likely to support a company that promotes local initiatives.

Locally made gifts available at Heritage North Museum.

Local Indigenous footwear has become a popular style for consumers around the world, and therefore, global companies are attempting to capitalize on this local market. Brands like Ugg’s, Sorel, and Minnetonka “operate by mass producing standardized, brand name products at a global scale.”xviii These global brands make moccasins and mukluks accessible to a larger market with mass-produced stock in warehouses. Their products are also available online and in many stores across the world. Although this method of production “enables them to capture a large, homogeneous market, it restricts their ability to serve smaller, more differentiated markets.”xix In contrast, the moccasins offered by global brands lack authenticity and a personal connection through face-to-face contact with the seller. Face-to-face contact creates “stronger social bonds within the community,”xx and brings greater authenticity to the product. While global brands have made Indigenous-inspired footwear accessible to a larger demographic of consumers, these global brands cannot provide the authenticity that many consumers value in locally made products.

Many critics have argued that globalization will wipe out other cultures, but this damage likely will not occur because informed consumers seek a personal connection to the products they buy. According to Kwame Appiah, “if there is a local product… many people prefer it.”xxi In an article about the rapid growth of handmade goods sales online, Andria Cheng explains consumers value “knowing an item has a unique story behind it [and this] creates a personal experience that customers [say] makes owning handmade products special.”xxii Moreover, people who have been affected by globalization will “try to gain economic and cultural returns from their home environments.”xxiii In Thompson, many Indigenous people sell handmade moccasins and mukluks through Facebook to supplement their income. Selling these handmade products online provides consumers with authenticity as they typically meet with the seller in person. Also, consumers appreciate the spirituality within the customized beadwork on the product. Indigenous beading artists convey good thoughts and prayers into their beadwork—yet another quality that impersonal global companies cannot replicate.xxiv One Manitoba based company, Manitobah Mukluks, has provided Indigenous people with a platform to sell their products while promoting their culture on a larger scale.xxv This local company is very transparent with the materials they use for their products and their international policies. They take “material that is considered ‘waste’” from tanneries and utilize it to make their products.xxvi Hence, Manitobah Mukluks has opened “a gate for increasing interaction between cultures” and allowed Indigenous people to gain financial security for their communities. Arguably, this company has played a part in extending the reach of Indigenous culture past the boundaries of reserve lands and has helped to provide greater acceptance between Indigenous and other cultures.

As globalization spreads, consumers will increasingly value the personal connections that exist when they purchase a local product. Accordingly, Belliveau argues that the “weakness of the global system is the great disconnect between producer and consumer, which inhibits the development of a trusting relationship.”xxviii Thus, people are now searching for local brands and products instead of settling for the impersonal yet convenient access to products that global brands offer. As these brands continue to expand, Simon explains that “the spread of these branded symbols of globalization raises the value of the local.”xxix Many Thompsonites prefer to purchase footwear from local sources. So do Canadians who choose to shop at local brick and mortar shops like bookstores and farmers markets, and people still appreciate being greeted by a familiar member of their community when ordering dinner over the phone. Globalization strives to create uniformity within brands and is therefore increasing the value of local cultures and businesses. People now research and develop their own opinions through the internet and social media and are less willing to blindly trust global brands.xxx As these brands continue to expand, consumers will continue to resist the placelessness that is generated from global brands and seek the authenticity from buying locally.

Works Cited

Appell, Laurel, and Bryce Buchanan. Interview with Kelly Laybolt. Personal Interview. Thompson, May 16, 2020.
Appiah, Kwame A. “Cosmopolitan Contamination” In Academic Writing, Real World Topics Concise Edition, edited by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl, 279-88. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2016.
Belliveau, Suzanne. “Resisting Global, Buying Local: Goldschmidt Revisited.” The Great Lakes Geographer 12, no. 1 (2005): 45–53. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.573.4490&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Chiang, Tien-Hui. “Is the Hegemonic Position of American Culture Able to Subjugate Local Cultures of Importing Countries? A Constructive Analysis on the Phenomenon of Cultural Localization.” Educational Philosophy and Theory. 46, no. 13 (2014): 1412–26. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=5f38d57a-71f7-4dbe-96da-7f5182072b47@sessionmgr103.
Cowen, Tyler. “Trade Between Cultures.” In Academic Writing, Real World Topics Concise Edition, edited by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl, 263-78. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2016
Daneshkhu, Scheherazade. “How Millennials’ Taste for ‘Authenticity’ Is Disrupting Powerful Food Brands.” Subscribe to read | Financial Times. Financial Times, June 19, 2018. https://www.ft.com/content/09271178-6f29-11e8-92d3-6c13e5c92914.
Indigo Books & Music, Inc. “Our Company: Fast Facts.” indigo.ca. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/our-company/fast-facts/.
Johnson, River, and Janet Tait. Interview with Kelly Laybolt. Personal Interview. Thompson, April 5, 2020.
Manatobah Mukluks. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Manitobah Mukluks. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.manitobah.ca/pages/faq#wheremade.
Mohr, Lois, and Deborah Webb. “The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Price on Consumer Responses.” Journal of Consumer Affairs 39, no. 1 (2005): 121-47. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=f9718bbc-5b68-4a56-990e-d4ade25d2ff4@pdc-v-sessmgr04.
Simon, Bryant. “Global Brands Contend with Appreciation for the Local.” In Academic Writing, Real World Topics Concise Edition, edited by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl, 229–232
i Simon, Bryant. “Global Brands Contend with Appreciation for the Local.” In Academic Writing, Real World Topics Concise Edition, edited by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl, 232. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2016.
ii Statistics Canada, “Census Profile, 2016 Census Canada [Country] and Canada [Country],” Census Profile, 2016 Census – Canada [Country] and Canada [Country], June 18, 2019, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E.
iii Thompsonite: A person who lives in Thompson, Manitoba
iv Simon, “Global Brands,”231
v Simon, “Global Brands,” 232.
vi Durnan, Matt. “Northern Flavours Closes Doors (Kind of),” September 16, 2014. https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/news/thompson/northern-flavours-closes-doors-kind-of-1.1368517.
vii Appell, Laurel, and Bryce Buchanan. Interview with Kelly Laybolt. Personal Interview. Thompson, May 16, 2020.
viii Appell, Laurel, and Bryce Buchanan. Interview with Kelly Laybolt. Personal Interview. Thompson, April 5, 2020.
ix Daneshkhu, Scheherazade. “How Millennials’ Taste for ‘Authenticity’ Is Disrupting Powerful Food Brands.” Subscribe to read | Financial Times. Financial Times, June 19, 2018. 2. https://www.ft.com/content/09271178-6f29-11e8-92d3-6c13e5c92914.
x Daneshkhu, “Disrupting Powerful Food Brands,” 3.
xi Daneshkhu, “Disrupting Powerful Food Brands,” 3.
xii Simon, “Global Brands,” 230.
xiii Amazon. “Books and Authors.” US About Amazon. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://www.aboutamazon.com/books-and-authors.
xiv Cowen, Tyler. “Trade Between Cultures.” In Academic Writing, Real World Topics Concise Edition, edited by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl, 269. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2016
xv Indigo Books & Music, Inc. “Our Company: Fast Facts.” indigo.ca. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/our-company/fast-facts/.
xvi Mohr, Lois, and Deborah Webb. “The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Price on Consumer Responses.” Journal of Consumer Affairs 39, no. 1 (2005): 124. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=f9718bbc-5b68-4a56-990e-d4ade25d2ff4@pdc-v-sessmgr04.
xvii Indigo Books & Music, Inc, “Our Company: Fast Facts.”
xviii Belliveau, Suzanne. “Resisting Global, Buying Local: Goldschmidt Revisited.” The Great Lakes Geographer 12, no. 1 (2005): 47. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.573.4490&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
xix Belliveau, “Resisting Global,” 47.
xx Belliveau, “Resisting Global,” 51.
xxi Appiah, Kwame A. “Cosmopolitan Contamination” in Academic Writing, Real World Topics Concise Edition, edited by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl, 284. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2016.
xxii Cheng, Andria. “No More Of The Same: Why Mass Production Is Actually A Boon For Etsy, Amazon Handmade.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, August 8, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andriacheng/2018/08/08/your-rebellion-against-mass-produced-goods-promises-growth-for-etsy-amazon-handmade/#336b7f0827e2.
xxiii Chiang, Tien-Hui. “Is the Hegemonic Position of American Culture Able to Subjugate Local Cultures of Importing Countries? A Constructive Analysis on the Phenomenon of Cultural Localization.” Educational Philosophy and Theory. 46, no. 13 (2014): 1420. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=5f38d57a-71f7-4dbe-96da-7f5182072b47@sessionmgr103.
xxiv Johnson, River, and Janet Tait. Interview with Kelly Laybolt. Personal Interview. Thompson, April 5, 2020.
xxv Manitobah Mukluks. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Manitobah Mukluks. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.manitobah.ca/pages/faq#wheremade.
xxvi Manitobah Mukluks, “Frequently Asked Questions.”
xxvii Chiang, “Hegemonic Position,” 1420.
xxviii Belliveau, “Resisting Global,”47.
xxix Simon, “Global Brands,” 230
xxx Daneshkhu, “Disrupting Powerful Food Brands,” 2.

Author’s Bio: Kelly Laybolt is a student at the University College of the North and is currently in his second year of the Bachelor of Arts Program. After the completion of his Arts degree, he intends to enter the Education program. Kelly was born and raised in Thompson, Manitoba and graduated from R. D. Parker Collegiate in 2011. He lives an active lifestyle and enjoys sports such as running and cycling in the summer months. Kelly’s love of cycling has inspired him to partner with the Great Cycle Challenge organization to raise money and awareness for children suffering from cancer. Kelly is also an avid motorcyclist and values spending quality time with family and friends. In the future, Kelly hopes to teach for the local school division where he can promote student interest in English literature and the art of writing.

Kelly Laybolt at Paint Lake Provincial Park during the summer of 2019.

Instructor’s Remarks: Kelly Laybolt’s topic in this Muses From the North began months ago during a class of mine on the topics of creative writing and writing in the digital humanities. In addition, in this essay I am happy to see that Kelly draws on various writers from our class (Bryant Simon, Tyler Cowen, and Kwame Appiah), who explore the effects of globalization on local cultures. In Kelly’s pursuit, we especially observe how Kelly is influenced by Simon when Kelly ingeniously adapts Simon’s model of the “Global vs. Local” to portray the struggles of our very own “local” Thompson, Manitoba, against the powerful global economic forces advancing into the north. I congratulate Kelly because this publication rewards Kelly’s diligent work I observed earlier in our class and his dedication to becoming a promising writer. (Dr. Gilbert McInnis)