Berkshire County — With national social media sites prompting consumers not to make any purchases from midnight on February 27 to midnight February 28, local small business owners and area leaders weighed in on what effect that boycott may have on the Berkshires, a region known for its unique stores and eateries.
In response to recent efforts by the Trump administration to cut government spending and slash federal programs including those relevant to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, the event focuses on large retailers, online, and brick-and-mortar. Organizer The People’s Union USA clarifies that “if you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses” and not “fast food, gas and major retailers,” in addition to a push for buyers to not use credit or debit cards for “non-essential spending.”
Carr Hardware owner Bart Raser said he wants to encourage consumers to support local businesses such as his stalwart company that has been active in Berkshire County for almost a century. “A critical part of the Berkshire economy are the small, local businesses,” Raser said, acknowledging the region is home to both large retailers and mom-and-pop shops. “If, indeed, the blackout was intended to be a total blackout—which I don’t personally believe that to be the intention of the group—then that would have a big negative economic impact on the Berkshires.”
Now with six locations, including one store in Avon, Conn., he acknowledged the Berkshire community’s staunch support of Carr Hardware since its 1928 start as being “a great place to have a business.” “Candidly, I don’t anticipate this day [February 28] to be any different,” Raser said.
John LePrevost, who co-owns Lee appliance store Henry’s Electric with his brother Scott LePrevost, called the boycott on Friday “detrimental” to his industry and their 79-year-old family business. “Fridays are a very big day for us,” John LePrevost said. “All of the summer-home and weekend people come in Thursday night and Friday, and it’s a busy day for us, as well as Saturday.”
Betsy Andrus, executive director of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, is hopeful the boycott means consumers walk away from the wealthy and powerful businesses of big-box shops and large retailers and not smaller stores. “In my mind, I’m very excited about that because I wish people would boycott these big-box stores more often and spend their money in the small, local shops,” she said. “In the Berkshires, we purposely have managed to keep a good number of the larger businesses and chains and box stores out, so that day, maybe, doesn’t have as much of an impact for our area as it would for other areas which are controlled mostly by box shops.”
Andrus notes that “we are a little different here in the Berkshires.” “I’m hoping that people travel here to buy from the small, local businesses and shops on that day and support local business,” she said.
Although Andrus agrees that society needs to take back power from conglomerate establishments, she doesn’t want to do so at the expense of the small businesses that have already been harmed through the pandemic and rising cost of health insurance. “We don’t need to impact them one more time,” she said. “Shop local. Support your small, local shops.”
Longtime Otis resident Bob Rosen said he “loves” the Berkshires but also supports the boycott as it brings to light the new federal stance curtailing DEI programs, with private industry following suit. In a telephone interview, he told The Berkshire Edge that the event is an opportunity for “private retail stores to really wake up to the fact that what you’re doing [by cutting DEI programs] really harms the economy, it doesn’t help the economy, and it harms the whole country.”
When it comes to the Berkshires’ small businesses, Rosen said the boycott is no different from a shop having to close, or lose business, due to a weather event. “There’s also a sacrifice payment to keep democracy and have it thrive,” he said. “I don’t think one day’s lost receipts is going to put a store out of business. You get a snowstorm, and you close down for the day, that’s the same kind of situation.”
However, he differentiated from a scenario in which a boycott was prolonged, then “that becomes a real issue for mom-and-pop stores.” “But one day, I don’t think it means anything,” Otis said.
According to The People’s Union website, the group is planning more economic blackouts for the next few months.
In a February 25 email from Lee Premium Outlets General Manager Carolyn Edwards, the center’s marketing leadership declined to comment on the boycott. The site features mostly large, national retailers.
The management of Starbuck’s and Domino’s restaurants in Lee had no comment.
