• Tweet
• Email
• Sharebar

• Tweet
• Email

By Erik Hare

I often tell it as a joke.  People should patronize local businesses, I always say, so you can imagine someone walking in and saying, “This is a fine local business!  Yesiree!  What a nice little local business you have!”  I tell it this way so that it stays in people’s imagination in a way a whole lot of preaching can’t, but it’s not a joke at all.  Buying local is one of the most important things you can do to support your community.

There have been a lot of studies which show this, and the most significant can be found at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) webpage.  The most commonly quoted is the Andersonville Study of Retail Economics, done in 2004 by Civic Economics.  They picked local business that were restaurants, retail outlets, and service providers.  Comparable chains were found that matched each of them.  They then conducted extensive interviews with the owners and managers regarding their expenditures.  Locally owned businesses sourced a lot more of their products close at hand in the local community, rather than from a central office located far away.

The Andersonville Study showed that 68 cents out of every dollar spent at a local business stays in the community, versus 43 cents for chain stores.  That’s not a small difference.  It means that local businesses offer a community a significant advantage in income.

Because they often have less to spend on advertising it’s important to seek out these local businesses on your own.  Many chains rely on location to drive impulse buying, counting on you to buy something once you are in the store. By being very aware of your purchases, you can plan them out and take the time to seek out a locally owed store such as a grocery store or a book store.  

It’s not hard to make this work.  A study in Bellingham, Washington by Applied Research Northwest showed that 3 years into a campaign to encourage shoppers to “Think Local!” 58% of them were more deliberate about their purchases and took the small amount of effort to support their local businesses.  It doesn’t take much to make a difference.

It’s easy to make buying local seem awfully serious – because it is.  Putting more thought into how you spend money is good for the community and good for your wallet, too.  But it’s also a lot of fun and makes everyone better off.  That gives you a lot to enjoy just the way it is.