Shop Local on Etsy and Save Gas! (You can find Cleveland Etsy Artists and more Easily)

I thought I’d make another post in my series explaining the ins and outs of the site “Etsy”.  This time I’m going to delve into the explaining the site a little further, by explaining one of it’s features called “shop local”

For those of you who have been intrigued by the handmade art and goods that can be found on Etsy, consider that it is also a more eco-friendly way to shop.  You can surf the web from your very own home, visit shops from all over the world, and not waste a penny driving anywhere to find items.

Though you probably realize that goods to have to be shipped if you don’t go pick them up, and resources are necessary to ship those items.  However, as has been mentioned on this blog, another way to be very ecologically and economically responsible is to shop in our local communities.

Etsy gives us the opportunity to connect with local artisans through it’s SHOP LOCAL feature.  You can find goods made by artists right from your own local community, and cut down on gas, shipping costs and more as the items you purchase do not have long to travel.

Basically, when you visit Etsy look on the left of the main page.  There in the left column are various ways to search the site.  Look for the shop local button as pictured below. When you click it you will then be able to type in any location you want to look for artists from that area (you can choose Cleveland, you can choose Akron, I bet you could even choose timbuktu if you wanted and find an artist)

Once you search, you will be given a listing of the shops with the most recent listings as shown in the next picture:

It’s a simple, quick and easy way to connect with artists in your local community as well as help out Mother Earth and your local economy!