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Important Information Every Consumer Should Know
01/15/2008 - By Charles Di Bartolo National e-Pay Services
Charles Di Bartolo
Information Every Consumer should know. We need to support locally owned business for our own good. Supporting locally owned business puts money back into the community and gets you better service and quality.
Important information every consumer should know.
Where you shop affects the community you live in. Shopping at a local business in your community rather than the large chain stores is an excellent choice. Most local businesses spend more money in their community than large department store chains. One study found that local businesses spend 53% of their revenues within the local and state community tax base; versus the big department stores who spend just 14% within the local economy.
Many Chain stores are subsidized with your local tax dollars, while they pay minimum wages and drain money out of the local economy.
Local business owners tend to buy locally, giving even more back to the community. Local businesses also tend to hire employees from the community.
Try to buy local first:
Whenever you can, Think local business first. Buying locally helps support your community. Most local businesses will order what you want if they don’t have it in stock. Many store chains only carry the quickest moving items in inventory and will not special order for their customers.
Buying locally helps reduce environmental impact. Local businesses buy more from the community, reducing travel to large warehouses, which can reduce pollution and urban sprawl.
Shopping and purchasing from locally owned independent businesses creates better community based jobs. Local small businesses are the largest employers nationwide. Local businesses are more inclined to hire people that better understand there products, are local, and want to take the time to get to know their customers.
Just for kicks, see if you are supporting your community well enough. You may notice that in your neighborhood you already don’t have a choice to support you local community. That means that damage has already been done. Large chain stores do often undercut the local competition. After they have driven local business owners out, prices rise while customer service falls, leaving you with only large chain stores, no local flavor and poor customer service.
TAKE THE TEST:
Supporting local business
Are you supporting your local community?
Where do you buy?
Clothing
__Chain Store __Local business
Hardware
__Chain Store __Local Business
Office Supplies
__Chain Store __Local Business
Groceries
__Chain Store __Local Business
Restaurant
__Chain Store __Local Business
Sporting Goods
__Chain Store __Local Business
If you answered chain store to 2 or more of these questions you need to think local more often.
Please realize I am not saying that you should never buy from a chain store or large department store. There are reasons to patronize them. It’s just frustrating to watch all of the local charm, and finances get drained from you own community. There is much to be said for the convenience of department store shopping but there is also a lot to be said for the charm and customization of shopping on Main Street USA, when you know the owner by first name, and he has exactly what you want without asking.
Buying locally is a treasure
1. Gets you a more concerned level of service
2. Offers you quality goods with less travel
3. Lets you buy unique items
4. Drives local economic growth
5. Enhances and supports your local community
6. New and better local jobs created
The next time your walking down Main Street USA make a quick turn into the local shopkeeper. You may be surprised and intrigued to find out the local service and quality you’ve been missing lately by not shopping in your neighborhood store.
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