Shops where the heart is Why you should shop and local love

love local SHOP WHERE THE HEART IS

There is a wealth of reasons to continue to support local business but here are our top five!

1. Your spend boosts the local economy

It is well-known that what goes around comes around. This is very much the case for local business. By choosing to spend your money locally, you are directly helping to change the lives of so many local business owners who are currently doing it tough. By spending locally, you are also ensuring that your money goes into the pockets of locals which is then likely to be re-spent locally – a term that has been referred to as the ‘boomerang dollar’. The boomerang dollar ensures that your community thrives and becomes a better place to live and work. Choosing to spend with local business owners means they can also continue to employ and look after their staff, particularly local young people. These employees also then spend locally, ensuring even more of a cash injection into the local economy.

2. You get personalised service and feel valued

Remember when you used to drive into a service station and someone would fill up your car? Nothing beats the personal touch. Small businesses can offer a personalised service not always found through larger chains. The relationship built between a local business owner and its customers goes a lot further than just the initial purchase. Small business owners pride themselves on getting to know their ‘regulars’ and nothing beats walking into a business and being greeted by your name, or having them remember what your ‘usual’ is.

3. Choosing to shop local helps support your community

sponsor local sports clubs, donate their goods and services to local schools, kinders, charities and community groups, as well as donate their time to help local causes. Without the support of traders, these types of organisations might also struggle to survive.

4. Improves the community care factor

By keeping local business and retail precincts alive, it means that local areas can support and care for marginalised groups in our community, such as the elderly, lower socio-economic groups and those with mental health issues. Many local businesses go above and beyond to help support the mental and physical health of these community members. Initiatives include food banks, clothing drives, employment and training opportunities and many other community schemes. This ‘pay it forward’ mentality from local businesses goes a long way to supporting these groups.

5. Good for the environment and your health

Shopping locally has many health and environmental benefits. By shopping local, you are ultimately reducing your carbon footprint by reducing travel times or doing away with them completely if you choose to walk to your local shopping precinct. Further, many local businesses have developed an ethos around locally-sourced products. Not only does this support local producers or manufacturers, and therefore the local economy, but it has a direct knock-on effect to the reduction in transportation and storage. Shopping locally also gives people that ‘feelgood’ factor. Knowing that you are supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, plus helping them support their families, en-courages people to come back for more.