Make 2026 a Local Year

A new year always brings fresh intentions. Eat better. Move more. Be kinder to yourself. For 2026, we’re adding one more simple idea that can make a real difference — make it a local year.

Shopping local is not about sacrifice. It is about choosing quality, personality and community over convenience. When you buy locally, your money stays close to home, supports skilled people and helps your town, village or city feel alive.

What many people do not realise is how quickly money disappears when it is spent elsewhere. A huge proportion of global financial transactions pass through a very small area of London’s financial district before moving offshore. That means when we shop with large, distant retailers, there is a strong chance that money leaves the UK entirely within seconds.

Shopping locally keeps value circulating where you live. It supports real jobs, real skills and real businesses that contribute directly to the character and resilience of your community.

Convenience has become effortless. But so has losing touch with where our money actually goes. Choosing local, even occasionally, is a simple way to rebalance that without giving anything up.

When you spend locally, the impact does not stop at the till.

That money helps pay the wages of people who live nearby. Florists, bakers, drivers, designers, cleaners, makers. People who shop locally themselves, raise families locally and keep your area ticking over. It is a good circle of life to be part of.

There is another small but important detail worth thinking about too. How we pay.

If you spend £100 by card, a processing fee is taken immediately. Even at around one percent, that £100 quietly becomes £99 the moment the payment clears. That fee leaves the local economy straight away.

Now imagine that same £99 being spent again by card, and again, and again. Each time, a little more value is skimmed away. Economists call this leakage. The money slowly drains out of the system.

If you reverse that and spend £100 directly, especially in cash, the full £100 stays in the till. The shop owner then spends that money locally. At another shop. With a local supplier. Paying a window cleaner, a service engineer, or buying stock.

As long as money keeps moving locally, as real value rather than plastic transactions, it retains its strength. It circulates. It supports more people. It lasts longer.

This is not about never using cards. It is simply about understanding that small choices add up. Paying local businesses directly, whenever you reasonably can, helps keep value alive where you live.

So here is a friendly challenge for 2026. We call it the Local Hero Mission.

Your Local Hero Mission for 2026

During 2026, make a wish list of 10 local businesses in your town, village or city and choose to buy something from each of them.

They can be anything you like. A florist. A baker. A butcher. A bookshop. A café. A maker. Somewhere you walk past but maybe haven’t tried yet.

If you love flowers, or know someone who does, you can send flowers anywhere in the country using a real local florist. Many florists, including ours, are part of national networks. Our direct florist network means your local florist can send your order anywhere in the UK. So if one of your ten is a real local florist, you can find one instantly at www.localflorists.co.uk.

What you buy does not matter. How much you spend does not matter. And you do not need to share the business names or receipts. This is not about showing off. It is about choosing local.

Why it matters

When local shops do better, they grow. They widen their ranges, invest in quality, improve their spaces and create places you actually enjoy visiting.

It also means fewer long trips, fewer anonymous products and more things made or chosen with care. The kind of things that last longer, feel better and come with a story.

Small choices, repeated by enough people, quietly change places for the better.

Flowers are the perfect place to start

Flowers are personal. They mark moments. They say things we sometimes cannot. Buying flowers locally means your bouquet is designed by a trained florist, made fresh and delivered with care — not packed into a box or shipped from a warehouse.

For New Year flowers, birthdays, thank yous or just because, choosing a local florist is one of the easiest and most meaningful ways to shop local.

You can order directly through We Are Florists, or search for a florist’s own website using localflorist.co.uk. Either way, your order goes to a real florist who designs and delivers your flowers themselves.

Earn your Local Hero Award

When you complete your Local Hero Mission — all ten local purchases during 2026 — we would love to recognise you.

Email us at hello@floristwindow.com with the subject line Local Hero.

You do not need to tell us where you shopped, what you bought or how much you spent. Heroes do not get paid. They get recognised.

We will send you a Local Hero Award from Florist Window that you can proudly share on your social media.

Be proud to shop local

Tell your friends. Share the idea. If you do it, others may follow. And when that happens, your local community wins.

This idea is just getting started. Later this year we’ll be building it out further under the banner make2026local.com, bringing together local businesses of all kinds to celebrate shopping close to home.

Start your Local Hero Mission today. Make one of your ten a local florist. Make 2026 a local year.