Getting to know clients is one of the best parts of my job. Discovering their careers, family structures, religious leanings, and political ideals is a true delight in my day. Listening to fellow Oklahomans has made me realize how vibrant our state has been and is becoming.

When catching up with clients, there are two conversations that come to mind. The first topic, a sort of "Whats new in Oklahoma City,” consists of new restaurants, bars, and retail. A blend of rumor, fact, and desire to be in the know fuels this conversation.
The second, is often about traveling to a city that is way “cooler" than our own.
Clients will rave about a dining experience as if they've never had pork chops before, or a shopping experience like it was visiting Mecca, and froth over a hotel as if it changed the way they perceive reality.

When thinking about these “cooler” cities there is a very distinct picture that they paint. Austin has a cultured weirdness. Seattle claims coffee, grunge and NPR. Denver is bountiful with breweries, subarus and edibles. More recently you hear tale of smaller southern markets being hailed as the new king of cool; Charleston or Nashville comes to mind.

So whats their deal? Why do these cities have a perception of being so much cooler?
When comparing, we [Oklahoma City] have great local restaurants, a thriving coffee scene, super trendy retail, breweries, and salons/barbershops. The list is long. Just visit the Keep It Local business members page and you'll be quickly overwhelmed.

So this begs the questions, Who are we? (Que cheesy BBC documentary about the fabric of human existence, and say “who are we” in a British accent). At a glance you can write us off as any other midwestern city. Our identity could be perceived as vague. But what makes us unique is that we are a deeply relational city. A “Big Friendly” as we’ve been coined. We are more likely to stop and talk when It is inconvenient. When we ask "hows it going?" we mean it. We champion our neighbors, we have a relational culture of selflessness that is hard to find.

I’m ok with not living in a perceived “cooler" market, in fact, they can keep their cool. Oklahoma City is great, not because we have fantastic local businesses, but because we want to be good neighbors. To me, that is a trade off worth having.

Jake Phelps is the owner of Capital City Barbershop and lives in NW Oklahoma City. He is married and has 2 little girls. In his free time, he loves all things BBQ and guitar pedals. Follow Jake on Instagram at @jakelahoma & @capital_city_ok

Let me introduce you to our pack: Hilde, Gracie and Harper (it was a family merger). Three dogs makes for a significant portion of our budget, so it’s an opportunity to really make a local shopping impact.

(Photo: Hilde, Gracie and Harper with pupcones from Sasquatch Shaved Ice)

If I’m being honest, for a good chunk of my pet parenthood, I took the easy route and bought it all at Petsmart. However, as our dogs have aged combined with my efforts to shop local, we made the switch last year.

One challenge was the lack of local pet stores near our home. I heard about Swaim Serum in Stockyards City. It’s a vet, vet supply and retail store, so it was nice that our dog toothpaste was available to purchase there along with a decent brand dog food. One Saturday when I arrived, a huge line of people were there for their low cost vaccine clinic. I really liked to see their outreach to the community by providing this care for people and pets in need. However, they weren’t consistently carrying the dog food brand I was using so I needed another option. Lately, I had been taking Hilde to jog a lake Hefner, so in order to make the trip efficient, I started jotting over to A1 Pet Emporium for dog food. This has also been nice as a motivation to go jog, because if we need dog food I might as well work a jog with the trip. A1 has a large selection of foods and any pet supply you need. They’ve given me great recommendations on foods as our dogs have all moved into senior status.

I’ve always used a local vet, and we go to Warr Acres Animal Clinic where my husband’s family has gone for several years. We really love Dr. Katie Kughn, she is wonderful with our dogs and so empathetic. Harper has arthritis and has recently gone on medication, so I’ve elected to purchase from our vet instead of 1800PetMeds, so it’s another opportunity to keep it localer.

We can’t afford to regularly groom three dogs and we’re pretty active outdoors so it wouldn’t last long anyhow, but Harper needed a good grooming and I tried out the Mutt Hutt near our home. She did a really great job and was sensitive to his old hips. We hate cutting their nails, so I also recently took Harper to Bo’s Dog Grooming on Penn and got a walk in $7 trim. Bo did a great job and I’ll definitely be back with the other 2.

(Photo: Harper after a fresh grooming at the Mutt Hutt Pet Salon)

So all in all, my lessons learned here are to just figure out ways to make pet supply runs efficient. Planning my week and knowing when I will need dog food or medication allows me to fit in other plans to make it efficient. In May, 94% of our pet budget was spent locally. The non-local 6% was only after an emergency visit to Petco on our way home from camping (tick shampoo, beware ticks are very bad this year). I feel good about our efforts in this category and I think our dogs do too! What are some of your favorite local pet stores and vets?

Pet Notes

What does shopping more local mean for a millenial(ish) couple who are striving to have a more minimal lifestyle when it comes to material things?
While our dogs are part of our family, we don’t really spoil them with much in the way of things. Our dogs really enhance our experiences by taking them camping, hiking, jogging and on walks through our neighborhood.

What is the feasibility of a commitment to shop local for those that do not have much flexibility or resources? For the single mom, the family living paycheck to paycheck, the person without access to reliable transportation?
I think most of the local pet shops have a basic brand of pet food, but that probably doesn’t compare to a value brand from a big box store. Although I know these brands aren’t the best for pets, it would be nice to see local shops offer more value options as a way to provide access for customers who may not be able to afford better brands at the moment. It can be a sticker shock to go from value brand to quality brand, but more exposure and education about the products could ease people into purchasing better quality foods over time.

Tweet your recommendations, tips, tricks or questions for Kristen to @kristenvails with hashtag #keepitlocalok or #keepitlocaler