Shop Local
Make this one of your New Year’s resolutions. By Patty Hutchens.
It’s a New Year and a time to make those ever-popular resolutions! While many of us make the typical New Year’s resolutions - live a healthier lifestyle, live according to our budget, and take more time for our friends and family - this year I would like to challenge you to make a different and unique resolution that will not only benefit you, but also your community.
When one chooses to shop in his or her locally owned stores, they are not only saving themselves time by not travelling to other destinations, but they likely are also saving money. Traveling out of town for your shopping needs requires the cost of gas, time away from home or work and, depending upon where you go, could also mean a higher sales tax. If you are an Internet shopper, you may save time, but not always money. After all, those shipping costs can quickly add up.
For many, it is easy to make excuses. “I don’t have time to go shopping; it’s much easier to go online and get my shopping done.” Or “I can do all my shopping in one place (a big box store), so it’s really more convenient.”
But the truth is that where we shop, where we eat and where we choose to recreate all go towards making our community a home. Our locally owned, unique businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of our community and help boost our local economy.
By supporting the locally owned businesses, you will also do much to ensure that products that meet your needs will be more readily available, resulting in innovation and low prices over the long term. After all, 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.
As we enter 2015 why not make a resolution to do as much of your shopping locally as possible. The benefits to your community are many. Small business owners are known for their contributions to the many non-profit agencies that in turn help our friends, neighbors and colleagues. Statistics show they are two and half times more likely to do so than the large chain stores. Small business owners are the ones who take the money they earn and reinvest it into their community with their own purchases of goods and services. Can the same be said for the “big box” stores? By shopping at locally owned stores you are not only helping to stimulate the local economy, but you may likely be helping other people in the community who rely upon several of our non-profits during the down times in their lives. Shop Local in 2015!
