A person learns early in life that the only real independence is financial – having your own money.

That’s as true for towns as it is for people.

Towns dependent on other, nearby ones for infrastructure, jobs or shopping become appendages of those larger places – suburbs. As travelers, we tend to hold suburbs in low regard. They’re pass-through towns, not destinations.

Haines risks becoming such a place when we send locally earned money out of town, either by shopping elsewhere or on the Internet. Such shopping drains our town of money, slowly costing us jobs and local convenience while making us dependent on sellers whose operations are far beyond our influence or control.

We lost a little independence this week with the news that Buckshot & Bobby Pins will close and move after four years here. The gift shop has been an anchor for Main Street but owner Kristine Harder figures she can make more in Skagway in six months than she can here all year. The store’s departure should be a warning bell.

We have a fairly strong retail sector, including competition among locally owned grocers, hardware stores and gift shops.

Local competition is the first thing we’ll lose if out-of-town spending increases. Competition tends to keep prices competitive and selection diverse. A store that has a monopoly is less likely to offer competitive pricing or a wide selection, making us even more likely to start shopping elsewhere.

If we become a town with one grocery store, one hardware store and one gift shop, it will be too late. We’ll be a wide spot on the road to somewhere else, not unlike many towns in the Lower 48, dependent on somewhere else for our commerce. We’ll lose permanent jobs, convenience and tax revenues chasing the questionable value of “getting it cheaper somewhere else.”

It’s in our common interest to keep as many stores going in this town as we can. If you need groceries, gifts, hardware or other goods, check local stores first. Do your best to shop at home. Realize that when you shop elsewhere, it’s the same as throwing your cash in the woodstove. It’s never coming back.

Shopping here keeps money circulating here. It’s critical to the survival of our town as we know it.

- Tom Morphet