Let’s break our Amazon addiction and start saving local small businesses

As we finally exit the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing we should all do is to break our collective addiction to Amazon and shop, instead, at our local small businesses. 

Shopping small isn’t a new idea, but it’s an urgent one. The pandemic and lockdowns have wreaked havoc on so much in our world. Small businesses bore the brunt. Amazon saw a 35 percent increase in revenue during the first nine months of 2020. Small-business revenue dropped 12 percent during the same period.  Even before the coronavirus hit, we were heading for a future where shopping malls and main streets would feature few stores, leaving Amazon as the only option. But COVID-19 put that process on steroids. We have to act now to stop it.