It's all the old debate about whether to change things from the outside in or from the inside out. Simply, both are good.
I've used vegan businesses for a long time for certain things, and more so since the vegan market opened just down the road, but most of my shopping has been for vegan products at non-vegan local shops. Using local shops is very important to me--I haven't shopped at supermarket chains for nearly 20 years, except for the occasional purchase when out cycling when there was nothing else available in a town or village, or when in Germany, where there are virtually no independent local food shops (except that in recent years, more Asian and Turkish food shops have opened there, which makes me feel right at home). Most of those local shops, except for my local health food shop, which is vegetarian and increasingly vegan, sell meat. I've met vegans who said they ordered all their food except for fruit and veg on-line so as to only patronise vegan businesses. All of that is fine in some ways, not so good in others--e.g., I particularly dislike shopping on-line, as I think it's very important to maintain local retail, but the priority for others will be to give all their money to purely vegan businesses. At the end of the day, buying vegan things will help, no matter how.
It's all the old debate about whether to change things from the outside in or from the inside out. Simply, both are good.
I've used vegan businesses for a long time for certain things, and more so since the vegan market opened just down the road, but most of my shopping has been for vegan products at non-vegan local shops. Using local shops is very important to me--I haven't shopped at supermarket chains for nearly 20 years, except for the occasional purchase when out cycling when there was nothing else available in a town or village, or when in Germany, where there are virtually no independent local food shops (except that in recent years, more Asian and Turkish food shops have opened there, which makes me feel right at home). Most of those local shops, except for my local health food shop, which is vegetarian and increasingly vegan, sell meat. I've met vegans who said they ordered all their food except for fruit and veg on-line so as to only patronise vegan businesses. All of that is fine in some ways, not so good in others--e.g., I particularly dislike shopping on-line, as I think it's very important to maintain local retail, but the priority for others will be to give all their money to purely vegan businesses. At the end of the day, buying vegan things will help, no matter how.