Some warm thoughts about shopping in Milford

To the Editor:
Henry David Thoreau said, "Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice."

I thought of that last night while talking with a woman in Bar Louis about her Christmas shopping. When I first saw her, she was sitting in a booth with a number of packages and a pen in her hand, reviewing a list. I jokingly asked her, "Are you checking it twice to see whose been naughty and whose been nice?"

She laughed and told me she had just been shopping at The Artisan Exchange, Patina, Ambience and others. "I can't believe I didn't realize all these great shops were here in Milford,"

I suggested several others she was not familiar with, including Ghiggeri's Olive Oil, Just Yesterday, and the new home furnishings store on Harford Street in the old Century 21 office.

Then she said something interesting that reminded me of the Thoreau quote: "When I shop locally, I feel like I'm also giving a gift to myself and my neighbors, supporting our own community, as well as the person I'm buying the gift for."

That warmed my heart, because I feel the same way. If you have more gifts to buy, please consider spending your money right here in your community, with locally owned stores, where it will "warm you twice."

Sean Strub
Hotel Fauchére
Milford