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Urban, suburban and rural, our daily view may be of rich and flourishing farmlands, magnificent coastlines, majestic mountains, commerce or industry. Within those landscapes live communities; communities that provide the businesses and services its residents need while providing the economic base which helps the community prosper.
Or not.
Supporting your local businesses strengthens your community: Your dollars build your local economy by keeping the money circulating within it. Analysts at Civic Economics have reported that “48% of each purchase at local independent businesses is recirculated locally, compared to less than 14% of purchases at chain stores.
A healthy local economy provides the products and services you need. When money leaves the hands of the community its businesses go elsewhere and its services become unavailable. The residents of the community must then travel father to obtain what they need, property values may diminish, and public safety is at risk as tax dollars dwindle, - tax money that is used to support public schools, parks, roads, and public safety workers such as police and firefighters.
Another reason to support local businesses is that they support you and your family. Local businesses are usually strong supporters of local charities and community events. They sponsor Little League teams. They buy ads in ballet recital programs so your daughter’s costume costs less. They donate materials, skills or labor to the sets of school plays and musicals. They participate in scholarship providing civic organizations such as Rotary clubs. The more money you invest in your privately owned local businesses the more you are investing in the people in your community, and your own family. CEO of Marketing Nutz, Pam Moore, agrees, “You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.”
Putting your purchasing dollars into a local business is not the only way to help your community. Positive word-of-mouth and good personal relationships are important to local business owners. Those businesses consist of people - people with families to care for, just like you. They are people who count on your satisfaction with their service and product to bring you back to their business again and again. They count on personal relationships within the community to sustain them. The storekeepers, doctors, CPA’s, landscapers, and repairmen, are your friends and neighbors, your child’s sports coach and Sunday School teacher.
Would your community benefit from more support of local merchants and service providers? Think about your purchasing habits and see if you can obtain more of your needs locally. Keep that 48% in your own neighborhood. Use the internet, phone book, community bulletin boards, your friends, and family to find a baker to make a delicious birthday cake rather than buy a ‘meh’ one from a retail grocery chain. Peruse a local bookstore for a bestseller. You may pay a couple of bucks more than at the big box store but you’ll be putting that money on the salesperson’s dinner table.
Be good to your community.
It is where you live.
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