Is Local Washing a Problem?

I went into Perfumania last night to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping, and thought, gee - this was great. Got to park right in front, walked 10 steps to the front door, and was waited on by someone who was familiar with their entire stock , got me exactly what I was looking for, and the entire transaction took 10 minutes.

Now, I'm thinking to myself, I couldn't even walk across the local Walmart store in 10 minutes - what a superb shopping experience. I took special appreciation to this, as a local business owner who tries to specialize in pet products that solve problems, works to educate our staff to be knowledgeable and able to answer patrons questions about topics that range from special dietary needs, food allergies, skin and coat problems, and how to fit clothes well for dogs.

So, I decided to research Perfumania as I was very impressed. Problem I found (and they did not lead me to believe this in any way) was that while Perfumania is a small, specialty store that models what I would want, it really isn't a local business. According to a study, every $100 spent locally, $45 stays in the community. The problem was that the study, conducted by the firm Civic Economics, found that to be true only if the money was spent at a locally owned business. Shop at a chain store, the analysis found, and only $13 of that $100 spent stays in the community.

This got me digging a little further, and found an interesting article from "The Urban Tulsa Weekly" that says:

Hoping to capitalize on growing public enthusiasm for all things local, some of the world's biggest corporations are brashly laying claim to the word "local."

This new variation on corporate greenwashing--local washing --is, like the buy-local movement itself, most advanced in the context of food. Hellmann's, the mayonnaise brand owned by the processed-food giant Unilever, is test-driving a new "Eat Real, Eat Local," initiative in Canada. The ad campaign seems aimed partly at enhancing the brand by simply associating Hellmann's with local food. But it also makes the claim that Hellmann's is local, because most of its ingredients come from North America.

It's not the only industrial food company muscling in on local. Frito-Lay's new television commercials use farmers as pitchmen to position the company's potato chips as local food, while Foster Farms, one of the largest producers of poultry products in the country, is labeling packages of chicken and turkey "locally grown."

You can read the entire article here.

According to Small Business Trends, "small businesses did not create the economic situation we find ourselves in. It was created by greed and excess and speculation — mostly on the part of very big businesses." I love this quote from Natasha Ball, also from the Urban Tulsa Weekly:

"Let's play a game. Which sounds more appetizing: A peach sprayed with pesticides and picked hard and green in an industrial orchard in California, processed and packed at a sprawling, faceless, corporate farm and trucked a couple thousand miles to your local grocery store...


Or, a peach picked ripe at a farm in a city you could, despite the geography courses at your public school, pinpoint on a map, delivered to your farmers' market totally free of chemicals, long-distance travel damage and other modes of interference and sold to you by a friendly guy in a hat who reminds you of your grandfather?

Wait. There wasn't really a choice presented there, was there? It's one of those "duh" decisions. Who in this day and age doesn't want unmitigated, fresh fruit grown by people they know? After multiple food safety scares, documentaries extolling the nutritional merits of fresh-picked produce and all those blurbs on TV about how we should all be reducing our carbon footprint, demand for food grown within a stone's throw from home is on the rise."

Local small businesses are going to help save the economy, provide better, greener products, and we actually create more jobs collectively than centrailized corporations tout they create. Small businesses make up more than 99.7% of all employers and create more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product (GDP). (SBA Office of Advocacy)


While small specialty shops offer a great shopping experience which I truly appreciate, there is a larger prize to be had - small specialty shops that are local small businesses offer the best of both worlds. I'm not so sure the one-stop-shopping is really all that it's cracked up to be, if you really look at the net time spent at the bigger corporations, and no help to find what you are looking for. I wish we had more local small businesses to shop at.

We're one of Google's Favorite Places

You may start to see some signs like this in local businesses' windows. Google has started a campaign, which I think is great for local businesses, that helps promote Google local and Google maps. We were selected by Google as one of the most popular destinations in Northwest Arkansas on the web - apparently local traffic looking for us and finding directions to our store. See the little blockey computer generated thingy down at the bottom right corner? This is called a 2-D bar code. There is information embedded in the 2-D bar code that can describe anything - free text, a price, package dimensions, etc. Basically you can put whatever you want in it. Google is leading the charge in the US, and is embedding the Google map location for the local business touting these signs, so that you can use IPhone apps like MobileTag that will let you take a picture with your phone, translates the 2-D bar code, and then takes you to the website. Ingenius right?

This has been around for some time, and there are several versions of 2-D bar codes. This is the QR code, which is the most popular 2-D bar code in Japan, and created by a Japanese corporation in 1994. Japanese mobile phones have been able to read QR codes for some time, and they use these codes to quickly input information into their phones. They are so popular that Japanese students have even been printing them on T-shirts embedding their links to their Facebook and Myspace pages, so that friends can snap a picture, decode the bar code, and see their Facebook page with no typing on little phone sized keyboards.

I read an article of Japanese students printing these QR codes on their T-shirts several months ago, and decided to download the MobleTag IPhone app, but have not been able to find any QR codes to scan. With Google pushing these codes, and businesses like ours talking about them and displaying the signs, I would expect these codes and phone tagging to become much more popular very soon. So, if you start to see these codes poping up, just remember that there is secret information embedded in these. Could be a website or Google map, could be a Facebook page, could be a coupon code (wink wink), or anything else somebody creative dreams up for these handy codes and the phone apps that are using them.

Oh, and thanks Google! you are one of our favorite places too!

Baking and Kitchen Secrets from Bigwag Dog Bakery

Many of you may already know some of these, but this is the best collection of them that I have seen so far, so I thought I would share:

• Brush beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful, glossy finish! (you probably already knew this one.. just thought it would add to the validity of the tips ;)
• Storing Cake -- If you store half and apple in the container which you are storing a cake, the cake will retain its freshness.
• Dropping Cookie Dough -- To get cookie dough to drop without sticking dip the spoon in milk first.
• Potato chip bag open again and they're all stale and yucky?? Pop them in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, let stand for two minutes and they'll be crispy again. (obviously take out of foil bags if in foil bags)
• A good trick when you go away on vacation is to place a baggie with a few ice cubes in the freezer. If a power failure occurs while you are gone and the food thaws and then refreezes you will know about it when you get home.
• To keep milk past it's expiration date add salt. A pinch of salt in a gallon will do it. The salt slows the rate of bacteria growth.
• Don't panic if your soup's too salty: Add cut raw potatoes and throw them away once they are cooked and have absorbed the salt. Your soup's saved!
• Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.
• Place a slice of bread in hardened brown sugar to soften it back up!
• Substitute half applesauce for the vegetable oil in your baking recipes~you'll greatly reduce the fat content! (Example: 1/2 cup vegetable oil = 1/4 cup applesauce + 1/4 cup oil)
• Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator it will keep for weeks!
• Save your store-bought-bread bags and ties~they make perfect storage bags for homemade bread! (mostly for us super 'savers')
• Mash and freeze ripe bananas, in one-cup portions, for use in later baking~no wasted bananas (or you can freeze them whole, peeled, in plastic baggies)
• Transfer your jelly to a small plastic squeeze bottle~no more messy, sticky jars or knives! This also works well for homemade salad dressing!
• To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes!
• Cottage cheese will remain fresher longer if you store it upside down in the refrigerator. This slows the effects of oxidation.

Now, some of you may ask, "but you guys make dog treats, why would I want kitchen tips from you?". Yes, while that is true and it may seem weird that a dog bakery is sending out kitchen tips, we do have a fully functional commercial kitchen, using human grade ingredients. The only real difference is that we don't add any sugar, salt, or artificial anything. Ok, maybe it's still a stretch. ;)

Today Show's Chistmas Picks for Dogs

Hey Everyone!

This morning on the Today Show, Dara Foster from PupStyle.com revealed her top picks for dog Christmas gifts.  You can read her list here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We were excited to see several of our favorite products made the list.  Our favorites among her choices were:

Molly Mutt Beds

We love Molly Mutt beds because they're stylish and affordable, not to mention green!  You can reuse old towels, blankets, clothes or other dog beds with these duvets and stuff sacks.  The stuff sacks run $10-$15 and the duvets run $20-$40, so you can get an entire bed for under $60, when most dog beds run closer to $100.  Plus with the revolutionary stuff sack, washing the entire bed becomes really easy, so you can keep your dog's bed clean and your home stylish at affordable prices.

Planet Dog Toys

We love Planet Dog toys for lots of reasons, but the biggest is they're GUARANTEED.  You really can't beat that.  If your dog chews it up, you get a new toy.  So really, it's the last dog toy you'll ever have to buy.  In addition, these toys are made in the USA, made with recycled materials and a portion of each purchase goes to the Planet Dog Foundation which supports canine service dogs.  They also make toys specially for old dogs that are high contrast and double mint so they're easier for your old dog to see and smell.  Or you can get Planet Dog toys specifically made for chewing  puppies!

Tag Silencers

If your dog has all the tags it's supposed to have, then you know the jingling is enough to drive you nuts.  While we've heard many solutions to this problem, Lupine tag silencers are our favorite.  They glow in the dark, they come in a variety of shapes and they'll help restore your sanity.  We also love Lupine's other fantastic products, like their leashes, collars and harnesses that are GUARANTEED, even if CHEWED!  And they make a handy tag clip so you can move your dog's tags from one collar to another without the hassle of taking them off the ring.

PLEASE Help us Help Lucky

Hey Everyone!

 

Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue asked me to pass this story on.  If you can help Lucky, it would be greatly appreciated.

This is Lucky.  A good natured, happy to be here, tail waggin' kind of guy.  He also has a survivor's instinct and a strong will to live.  Lucky was found lying in a ditch after being hit by a car.  He was transported to a holding facility where he went three weeks without medical attention while it was being determined whether he should be euthanized.  Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue heard of his story and determined that he should be given every opportunity available for life.  Volunteers from the NWAAR transported Lucky to a local veterinarian where he was X-rayed to determine the extent of his injuries.  X-rays showed one hip severly dislocated and one hip completely shattered.  X-rays also picked up buckshot which leads us to believe the car accident was not the only unfortunate incident Lucky has survived.  New Hope Animal Hospital examined Lucky and after viewing his X-rays and determining the severity of his injuries could not understand how Lucky was even able to walk.  The pain must have been excruciating.  New Hope Animal Hospital veterinarians contacted Oklahoma State Universitry a secured Lucky an appointment to see if there was anything that could be done.  Volunteers from NWAAR transported Lucky to Oklahoma State University where we recieved the good news that Lucky's injuries could be repaired.  Both of Lucky's hips have now been surgically repaired and he is currently undergoing physical therapy.  The prognosis is that Lucky should be able to live a normal, happy, pain free life.  Upon his release from Oklahoma State the volunteers of NWAAR have committed to continuing Lucky's physical therapy and rehabilitation until he can be placed in his forever home.

But we need your help!  The procedure that was necessary to help Lucky cost $6,000.  If you would like to help Lucky please send donations to:

Lucky c/o NWAAR

P.O. Box 7532

Springdale, AR 72766

*All donations are tax-deductible.  Please include your address when sending donations so we can send you a return reciept.

Humane Society Angel Tree 2009

Hey Everyone!

I know many of you are familiar with the Humane Society for Animals of Benton County and the wonderful work that Clay and his staff do there supporting the homeless animals.  Well, each year they place an Angel Tree here at Bigwag with tags for items that they need.  If you haven't yet given to a charitable organization this holiday season, I urge you to come by and check out the Angel Tree.  They need all types of items ranging from cleaning supplies to money for spay and neuter to gift cards from Lowes for repair work.  And as a bonus this year, when you return an item from the tree, you get a chance to win a beautiful prize that includes a large dog bed, toys and treats! 

The Angel Tree and some of the donations we've received so far

The prize you could win with your donation!

Upcoming Yappie Hours - December 2009

Hey Everyone!

Tonight is the first of our holiday Yappie Hours!  We're kicking it off with Merry & Bright, a Yappie Hour to get your dog looking and smelling it's best from head to toe.  Whether your pup is in need of a bath, a brush or some mouthwash, you'll save 20% tonight on the tools to get it done.  Next week we're making it easier to pick the perfect gift with our Favorite Things Sale.  You'll save 20%-50%on our most popular items.  In our last Yappie Hour before Christmas, we're helping you get it all wrapped up with Pretty Paper.  You get free gift wrapping with your purchases.  All of these Yappie Hours are from 5pm-8pm due to our holiday hours!

And if that isn't enough, you won't want to miss our on Chew Year's Eve, the end of year celebration for your dog.  Save 20% on chews and tough toys plus 50% on treats.  Plus, December 19th you can stop by for socializing and coffee on us before you head out for shopping.

 

Bigwag Holiday Hours

Hey Everyone!

As many of you know, we have extended hours for this holiday season.  But in case you weren't aware, I wanted to post them here.  We are open 9am-8pm Monday-Thursday, 9am-7pm Friday & Saturday as well as 12pm-5pm on Sunday to make your shopping more convenient!