Why You Should Ditch The High Street And Buy Handmade...

Shop bought

Homemade

We really don't eat Pizza that often but this week when preparing a Homemade pizza for the children it reminded me of the choices we have when we buy Handmade over High street....

To the naked eye, my two photos might look quite similar but why don't we take a closer look at why we should ditch the High Street in favour of Handmade goods. 

The first picture is a shop bought pizza it would be exactly the same whether you bought it in Edinburgh or London, maybe even Rome! Sometimes this is a good thing, when you buy a pizza in a supermarket you want it to be exactly the same as the last time, but when you are spending your hard-earned cash on a pressie for a friend or a treat for yourself do you really want an identical bag to hundreds or thousands of other people? No, I thought not!

When you make your own pizza you can choose your own ingredients, leave out what you don't like and even add on extra of what you love! Buying direct from a handmade seller may mean you have alot more input into the final item. Even if you can't change things, the nature of a handmade item means it will be available to a much smaller market. However some companies positively welcome custom orders or  personalisation and you could easily end up with a completely unique product!

Buying handmade you are often dealing direct with the maker, communication is alot simpler than with a multinational chain! No standing in queues for customer service here or annoying 'press option 1 to speak to an advisor' phone calls! Where else can it be 'quite normal' for you bag to be made whilst the owner is on holidays? Or you can get a reply to an email enquiry at 10pm?

Nor is quality lower when you buy handmade, a maker seller will often have impossibly high standards and will triple check and remake before sending out an item, after all, the buck stops with them!

By buying handmade you are also directly helping someone earn a living, not paying shareholders or directors. You are helping to pay for a daughter's Dance Lessons or a son's Cub Camp :)

What other reasons can you think of, why do YOU buy handmade?