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Hi there, and welcome to my new weekly Saturday column “ShopEdmond”, which I have used consistently in print and our hashtag #ShopEdmond on our social networks since July 13, 2009.

There was a nasty misunderstanding about the use of this hashtag in 2016 when a now bankrupt spa used it to the point where it drowned out our local advertisers and other small businesses using the hashtag as a neat local directory of local Edmond businesses, and after the Twitter blood frenzy, Karma moved in quickly and the business was disgraced for taking money for gift cards and not refunding clients who didn’t know of the impending bankruptcy coming of Cottonwood Salon.

I was mortified that some gross people in the metro in the networking and marketer scene acted the way that they did, with some saying I should kill myself or lesser, that the incident would put me out of business.  Well, the incident put the right one out of business, that’s for sure. I have since state trademarked the hashtag, the term ShopEdmond and recently the name of my magazine and Around Edmond. Those who remember, know why, and this has been done solely for marketing and advertising purposes to preserve my rights in the usage of each term as I am using them, not for public service purposes. I just want to do what I love without someone trying to exploit what has taken me 14 years to accomplish, that’s it in a nutshell. Most people can understand this entirely.

Did you know our city subsists on revenue solely based on our sales tax collection? When you shop at a store located within Edmond’s city limits, the sales tax collected is used to repair roads, upkeep our parks, and more.

Even if you shop at a store located across city lines, the sales tax then goes to OKC or another municipality and does nothing for the things that affect your daily living. Even online sales tax is collected by the City and I’ll be covering the best places that are online and locally owned in an upcoming blog.

There are a lot of local business owners out there that feel advertising is too expensive (we hadn’t raised our rates for the last 13 years), but oddly choose to support out-of-state national franchise advertorial style books, magazines, and programs, and although they want residents to shop local, these businesses ad revenue is being sent outside of Edmond, much less Oklahoma.

I always imagined creating a monthly advertising zine for local businesses, but the businesses prefer being presented on the heaviest paper possible and this made direct mailing impossible due to that cost relying solely on the weight of a publication, so that ended where it started.

For the last 14 years, ‘ShopEdmond’ has always been in print but also used weekly online within Around Edmond blogs as a sub-feature featuring only independent businesses.

This year I am starting our 14th year talking about locally owned businesses, but also local franchises and big box stores and what their trends and specials are, and trying my best to feature our brick-and-mortar retailers in the best possible light to help new residents navigate our widespread shopping options.

Be sure to stop by Serendipity Market, this week’s featured locally-owned retailer, and remember to stop by the next two Thursdays and enjoy a discount from all of the vendors!

Follow us on Instagram at @Edmondactivemag or click the logo to the right, follow on Facebook at Edmondactive for daily offerings from some of Edmond’s local retailers and service providers, and stop by next Saturday to find out where to #ShopEdmond!

Thank you for reading – Sherri