‘Love local, shop local’: Hamilton Day encourages support of local businesses

Café owner Wei Koh is bringing up a bag of beans at The Hub Coffee Roaster on King Street West – ready to make fresh brews for their customers.

Having just opened seven months ago, Koh and his wife Kimberly are just happy that people like their coffee.

The Hub coffee roastery is one of many local businesses participating in Hamilton Day – a citywide celebration organized by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce this weekend.

The downtown core is the heart of Hamilton Day- day 2 by the way and all the cafes, retailers, bookstores and record stores are all here participating in this year’s celebration of everything local.

“Love local, shop local!”

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Independent record store Into The Abyss, who’s marking their 8th year this month, gave away a care package for audiophiles this weekend.

A few doors down, Vagabond Saints Tattoo Lounge, also opened their doors, to give Hamiltonians some pretty good deals.

“Any of the pre-drawn artwork from the shop up to three inches, a hundred dollars and anybody that comes in gets a $50 gift certificate for free that they could use later in the year,” says Cooper Watts, the owner of Vagabond Saints Tattoo Lounge.

Whitney McMeekin, the owner of Girl On The Wing who’s been running her vintage, retro, and nostalgic shop for 14 years, says Hamilton Day is also a good time to do something good for the community.

“This year we just figured with so many people struggling, we decided to do a food drive and people can save 15 per cent off their purchase with every donation – just trying to give back to the city that gives so much to us,” McMeekin says.

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Bibliophiles who stopped by J.H. Gordon Books this weekend enjoyed up to 20 per cent savings.

“We had a lot of people come in, some regulars but a lot of people who haven’t been in here before so that’s nice that the event is getting people out exploring places they might not normally go to,” says Julie Gordon, the owner of J.H. Gordon Books.

When asked which book on their shelf best represents Hamilton, Gordon picks:

“’Falling Into Place’ by John Trepstra who is a local author and poet. This book is about urban geography and nature.”

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Shoppers looking to buy more local books and art also stopped by the Art Gallery of Hamilton this weekend.

“It’s completely local, we love to uplift the community here and just invite as many artists that we can back in the community,” says Laura Freemann, the development officer at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

As shoppers walk away with a bagful of local buys, small business owners are grateful to have this much-needed push from the chamber.

“Small businesses are what make a city interesting,” Gordon says.

“What makes Hamilton great is the perseverance of the people here, the small businesses,” Watts says.

“I just can’t imagine living in a different city and doing this anywhere else,” says McMeekin.

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