How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Locally"
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local" Four blocks from my house on the north side of Chicago is an independent toy store that has bailed me out with a last-minute birthday gift more than a few times. The knowledgeable proprietors peddle geodes to Germanengineered wind-up trains, bug-collection kits to theatrical costumes. Perhaps more important than their inventory, they've kept alive that elusive remnant of the retail experience—service. They gift wrap for free yearround. "Indie shopping" is a conscientious e ort to patronize independents, or locally owned businesses, over chain stores when it's possible to do so. "Buy Local" campaigns draw the support of like-minded citizens and community groups, particularly as businesses and consumers continue their slow crawl from recession. The pro-indie argument usually centers on community bene ts, from social interaction to tax revenues. There's an impact on the wallet as well. Chain patrons typically cite prices and product variety when they opt for big-box stores. Internet shoppers do so for convenience. Plus, many individuals who might make the choice to shop locally nd themselves forced to hit the chains, as downtowns and neighborhood shopping clusters have shrunk dramatically over the past two generations. That's true of both small towns and bigger cities.
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local"
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local" But comparison shopping between independent businesses and chains is about "overall value, not just price," says Je Milchen, co-founder and outreach director at the American Independent Business Alliance. "There are other factors, such as service, selection, durability. You have to look at the lifespan of products before determining whether they are more expensive than at chain stores" where higher sales volume tends to lower price tags. Milchen recalls his time in the landscape industry. He learned that the higher-end makes and models, and accompanying service, of lawnmowers he bought through a locally owned seller topped what he assumed to be a more appealing cost option at a home-improvement chain. The energy costs typically associated with shopping at big shopping complexes or standalone chains must also be accounted for. "We've been increasing our driving signi cantly over the past several decades, and it's due almost entirely to shopping," says Milchen. "Plus, time is money."
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local"
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local" The study examined the economic impact of 10 local businesses in the Andersonville commercial district against that of chain businesses in the area. The study's ndings: Of every $100 spent at local businesses, $68 remains in the Chicago economy, while of every $100 spent at a chain, $43 remains in the Chicago economy. For every square foot occupied by a local rm, the local economic impact is $179. For every square foot occupied by a chain firm, local economic impact is $105.
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local"
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local" Although he was not referencing the Andersonville study speci cally, Milchen, of the Independent Business Alliance, says his association's e orts are sometimes undermined by statistics that show a too-favorable and unrealistic gap in the community revenue bene ts of independent business over national chains. Milchen prefers to look at it this way: Shopping at locally owned establishments can leverage community funds times three, on average. For example, by supporting a local clothing boutique, a consumer is also supporting a local attorney, tax preparer, and printer. Local businesses tend to source small manufacturing and banking needs closer to home as well. Certainly, there are other retail realities. The existence of any business, chain or not, is often preferred over an abandoned storefront, and will better serve communities void of key supplies for everyday existence. While I happily patronize my local toy store, the reality is that big-box retailers that include a grocery section may just be the saviors for the vast "food deserts" across other parts of my home city, Chicago. There, zero grocery options, especially fresh food, exist for blocks on end. Still, the risk of losing more independent businesses or even slowing their growth is only reenergizing the small-business community. Local and national campaigns that join e orts to raise awareness can boost results for indies.
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local"
How Consumers & Communities Can Benefit from "Buying Local" A 2011 Independent Business Survey was conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and dozens of national and local business organizations. Respondents who participated in "Buy Local" campaigns reported an average gain in revenue of 5.6 percent, compared with a 2.1 percent revenue increase for those not involved in these campaigns. The survey gathered data from 2,768 independent, locally owned businesses during an eight-day period in January. It covered all 50 states and included a range of business types. National campaigns are also gaining some traction. Nov. 26, 2011, the Saturday immediately after Thanksgiving and Black Friday, is designated as the second-annual Small Business Saturday holiday shopping promotion. An e ort called Independent We Stand joined with American Express to create the national program in 2010 in response to small business owners' most pressing need: more demand for their products and services. Last year's inaugural program drove millions of dollars to Main Street merchants, the campaign says. "Locally owned businesses reinvest in the local economy at a 60 percent higher rate than chains and Internet retailers, so Small Business Saturday shoppers will be revitalizing their economies while nding great deals at their favorite local merchants," says Bill Brunelle, project manager of Independent We Stand, in a news release. Advocates say the decision to buy locally should be a lifestyle choice that re ects a commitment to the community. In one measure of community impact, consultancy Civic Economics, in 2004, conducted the Andersonville Study of Retail Economics, a fact- nding mission commissioned by Chicago's Andersonville Chamber of Commerce and the Andersonville Development Corp.
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy
Dave Cutler
"Buy Local" - you see the decal in the store window, the sign at the farmer's market, the bright, cheerful logos for Local First Arizona, Think Boise First, Our Milwaukee, and homegrown versions across the states. The apparent message is "let's-support-local-business", a kind of community boosterism. But buying close to home may be more than a feel-good, it's-worth-payingmore-for-local matter. A number of researchers and organizations are taking a closer look at how money ows, and what they're nding shows the profound economic impact of keeping money in townand how the fate of many communities around the nation and the world increasingly depend on it. At the most basic level, when you buy local more money stays in the community. The New Economics Foundation, an independent economic think tank based in London, compared what happens when people buy produce at a supermarket vs. a local farmer's market or community supported agriculture (CSA) program and found that twice the money stayed in the community when folks bought locally. "That means those purchases are twice as e cient in terms of keeping the local economy alive," says author and NEF researcher David Boyle.
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy Indeed, says Boyle, many local economies are languishing not because too little cash comes in, but as a result of what happens to that money. "Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going," he says, noting that when money is spent elsewhereat big supermarkets, non-locally owned utilities and other services such as on-line retailers"it ows out, like a wound." By shopping at the corner store instead of the big box, consumers keep their communities from becoming what the NEF calls "ghost towns" (areas devoid of neighborhood shops and services) or "clone towns", where Main Street now looks like every other Main Street with the same fast-food and retail chains. According to Susan Witt, Executive Director of the E.F. Schumacher Society, "buy local" campaigns serve another function: alerting a community about gaps in the local market. For instance, if consumers keep turning to on-line or big-box stores for a particular productsay, socksthis signals an opportunity for someone local to make and sell socks. This is the way product innovations get made, says Witt. "The local producer adds creative elements that make either the product or materials used more appropriate to the place." For example, an area where sheep are raised might make lambs wool socks and other goods. The point is not that communities should suddenly seek to be selfsu cient in all ways, but rather, says Boyle, "to shift the balance. Can you produce more locally? Of course you can if the raw materials are there, and the raw materials are often human beings." And what about that higher cost of local goods? After all, big-box stores got to be big because their prices are low. Susan Witt says that the di erence falls away once you consider the increase in local employment as well as the relationships that grow when people buy from people they know. (Plus, one could argue, lower transportation, and therefore environmental, costs, and you know what you're gettingwhich as we've recently seen with suspected contamination in toys and other products from China, can be a concern.)
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy There's also the matter of local/regional resilience. Says Witt: "While now we're largely a service-providing nation, we're still just a generation away from being a nation of producers. The question is: what economic framework will help us reclaim those skills and that potential." Say, for example, the exchange rates change or the price of oil rises (and it has started to creep up, if not at last summer's pace) so that foreign-made goods are no longer cheap to import. We could nd ourselves doubly stuck because domestic manufacturing is no longer set up to make all these products. While no community functions in isolation, supporting local trade helps "recreate the diversity of small businesses that are exible and can adjust" to changing needs and market conditions, says Witt. Another argument for buying local is that it enhances the "velocity" of money, or circulation speed, in the area. The idea is that if currency circulates more quickly, the money passes through more handsand more people have had the bene t of the money and what it has purchased for them. "If you're buying local and not at a chain or branch store, chances are that store is not making a huge pro t," says David Morris, Vice President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonpro t economic research and development organization based in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. "That means more goes into input costssupplies and upkeep, printing, advertising, paying employeeswhich puts that money right back in the community."
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy One way to really make sure money stays in the community is through creating a local currency. Christian Gelleri, a former Waldorf high school teacher in the Lake Chiem area in Germany, has launched a regional currency, the Chiemgauer, equivalent in value to the Euro. According to Gelleri, the Chiemgauer, accepted at more than 600 businesses in the region and with about $3,000,000 Euros worth in circulation, has three times the velocity of the Euro, circling through the economy an average of 18 times a year as opposed to 6. One reason for the fast turnaround is that the Chiemgauer is designed to encourage spending: there is a 2% demurrage fee for holding onto the bills beyond three months. As an economic principle, velocity has been considered a constant. According to Gelleri, it was stable in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s but starting in the '80s velocity has decreased as more money has been diverted to the nancial sector. This scenario may bene t nancial centers, but money tends to drain away from other places. Gelleri says that both the Euro and the U.S. dollar have slowed way down. "In the last several months velocity has declined sharply because there's less GDP and more money," he says. "The money doesn't ow. More money is being printed, but it's not going into circulation."
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy
Top 10 Reasons to Support Locally Owned Businesses As the nation limps through the recession, many towns and cities are hurting. "Buy-local" campaigns can help local economies withstand the downturn. Says Boyle: "For communities, this is a hopeful message in a recession because it's not about how much money you've got, but how much you can keep circulating without letting it leak out."
What You Can Do! Talk to your Councilperson or Local Chamber of Commerce about "Buy Local" Initiatives available to your community! Also below is a more information! TOP 10 REASONS TO SUPPORT LOCALLY OWNED BUSINESSES! Learn more
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Top 10 Reasons to Support Locally Owned Businesses
Top 10 Reasons to Support Locally Owned Businesses 1. Local Character and Prosperity In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage.
2. Community Well-Being Locally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, linking neighbors in a web of economic and social relationships, and contributing to local causes.
3. Local Decision-Making Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.
4. Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community.
5. Job and Wages Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.
6. Entrepreneurship
Top 10 Reasons to Support Locally Owned Businesses Entrepreneurship fuels America’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.
7. Public Benefits and Costs Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more e cient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls.
8. Environmental Sustainability Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers-which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.
9. Competition A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.
10. Product Diversity A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices. Š Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Top 10 Reasons to Support Locally Owned Businesses