Buying more local

I went to the Farmers' Market at our new mall the other day - it had only 3 stalls that sold honey, preserves, cookies and knit wear. I was extremely disappointed since this is not of help for getting local produce so we consider ordering our Organic Box on a weekly basis now. But I checked out a locally owned supermarket that sells the same products as the big chain stores and does not cost any more. We also walked around in the neighbourhood to see what we can get near us without going to the big box stores. I'm often surprised myself how small shops survive. Some are super specialized (needle work, pet treats bakery, ..) and probably get their customers talking about it but others still compete against the big box stores at the malls that everybody knows and has membership cards for. We will try to support them more and see how that goes because I noticed that I don't like shopping at most chain stores any more. The recent announcement of a large US dollar store chain coming to Canada made me choke. Considering the already existing amount of dollar stores I wonder who needs more cheap crap to start with. Hopefully they don't make it. Stick to your local dollar store if it needs to be such store at all. 
On New Year's Eve we had pizza from our local pizza & junk food restaurant. We don't often have take-away but I was feeling so sick and my husband did not fancy cooking (after the move there was not much food in the fridge) so take-out pizza seemed a reasonable idea. I was glad it turned out that this local store was closer than any Pizza Hut or Boston Pizza. Did I mention I have never been to most junk food chains. I used to know McDonald's well because I worked there as a student. I went a few times to A&W, always on the way from the airport to my in-laws. And I had to try Tim  Hortons in Canada - that is with Subway the only fast food chain I really like. Their food is not too "junky" but the service at Tim Hortons often sucks (slow!). At Tim Hortons one even receives proper plates and bowls instead of plastics dishes!