An article for the local newspaper.
Once a person has met their biological needs and they feel safe and secure, their next most important requirement is a feeling of community and belonging. Community is a vital component in the quality of life equation. We need to support our local economy if we want to maintain a viable and vibrant community and that means shopping locally when we can. We usually trade where we perceive the best value but the unrelenting emphasis on cost above all else leads many to overlook the values independent businesses offer, both personally and in our community. When local business leaves a community it creates a social and economic void that is real and palpable, the quality of life changes significantly. You don’t have to drive to far in any direction to find a community in distress. Towns that bought into the ideal of having a mega retailer or took their business out of town and sadly once that sense of community is gone it rarely comes back.
Local business ownership means residents with roots in the community are involved in the key decisions that shape our community and our lives. Local business owners have personal relationships with their customers, knowing them by name. When was the last time you visited a chain store and were greeted by name? Local businesses personally know their customers and can tailor products and services that make your purchasing experience even better. Who fixes those expensive appliances that you buy on Amazon or the big box stores in the city when they inevitably break? Independent locals also employ many supporting services, “buying locally” themselves. They hire electricians, contractors and other tradespeople. Local accountants, insurance brokers and computer consultants help local businesses run. Chain stores are typically clones, eliminating local planning and using a minimum of local goods and services. A company-owned store’s profits are promptly exported out of the community back to corporate headquarters, efficient for them, but not so good for the local community. They promote adding jobs to the local economy but it has been proven by numerous studies that they actually destroy more jobs than they create.
We need to strengthen our local economy! A dollar spent at a local business returns three times more money to your local economy than one spent at a chain (almost 50 times more than from an online mega-retailer), a benefit we can all bank on. This local multiplier effect is key to maintaining a vibrant self-sustaining local economy and strengthens the economic base for the entire community. A strong local economy also increases the value of local homes-your home. What is the economic cost to our community when we shop out of town or let absentee-owned corporations displace locally-owned businesses? It can be staggering. Blighted main streets with more empty, falling down buildings than viable businesses. Local schools, hospitals and emergency response, incapable of providing the required services to the community. Local business means a stronger tax base, which means better schools, health care, roads and emergency response. Local businesses also donate significantly more per sales dollar to local non-profits, events and teams than chain stores. Have you ever seen Wal-Mart at the county fair, bidding up the price of a 4H or FFA members livestock significantly higher than its market value, to support our kids?
Local businesses are owned by your friends and neighbors, they live in this community and are invested in it’s future, just like you. They are the ones donating food, services and other goods when our neighbors in the community have an emergency, or are in need. Together we are the community and if we still want to be a viable community in a decade or two we need to engage now. Get involved in your local community or you may not have one. Read the local newspaper and educate yourself about what is going on in our local councils of government, in our schools and on our streets. Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!