The Shop Locals First Card

This question is best answered by Michael H. Shuman, author of the book "Going Local."

"Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependant on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs."

After all, it just makes good sense to keep local dollars in the local community.

Just like you, local businesses are committed to their local communities.
They put their money where they live!

When you buy local, you support the independent, one-of-a-kind businesses that make up the heart of your local neighborhood. Buying local keeps money in the community and builds a strong local living economy.

Shop Locals First is an unprecedented grassroots effort to connect you to local businesses in neighborhoods in every corner of local America. Look for the Shop Locals First signs; discover the independents in your neighborhood; and support the local businesses you know and trust.

Additionally, a recent study showed that locally owned, independent businesses re-circulate far more money into the local economy than chain businesses. Also, as numerous recent news articles have reported, neighborhoods filled with unique, locally owned enterprises are far more marketable than those filled with characterless, cookie-cutter, “formula” businesses. In other words, the personal connection and trust between local business owners and local shoppers is an advantage that nobody else can match.

For example, studies have shown that for every $100.00 spent with a local, independent business, over $73.00 remains in the community and in the local economy.

But, for the big-box stores, the opposite is true. For every $100.00 spent with a big-box retail chain, less than half remains in the local community and the rest goes elsewhere.

Be aware of the impact of your dollars.

A locally owned independent business returns approximately 73% of each dollar spent back to the community. Local, independent businesses assist the community through a “multiplier effect”: one dollar spent at a locally owned business will return almost five times that amount within the community through city taxes, employees' wages, and purchase of materials and supplies at other independent businesses. In addition, these businesses will turn that dollar back into the community through school funding, social services, and contributions to local non-profit organizations.

Chains and franchises contribute roughly 40% and at times as little as 20% of the store’s sales back into the community through employee wages, sales taxes, and property taxes. Frequently, a chain store's location is owned by the larger non-local company, and the business is given tax breaks by the city in order for shareholder profits to remain high. Locally owned independent businesses do not receive such benefits and thus contribute a far greater proportion of revenues to local taxes.

Choice makes for a richer community.

Local, independent businesses are located all over our communities. You can grab an espresso to go, pick up dinner for two or some freshly baked bread, shop for unique gifts or household items, or choose a good book for a lazy day of relaxation. You can get your hair cut, have your taxes prepared, or apply for a mortgage at your friendly community bank or credit union.

These businesses add to the character that is your community, contributing more than just goods and services. They offer personalized attention, add diversity to our shopping options, and bring life to historic buildings. And they pay their employees— and local taxes— with the income they receive. Each time you choose to spend your dollars at a local, independent business, you are voting for the continued strength and vitality of our community.

SHOP LOCALS FIRST — Put Your Money Where Your House Is!

When you shop at a mega-retailer chain store or an online retailer, most of your dollars leave the local economy. You may save a few cents, but the loss to our hometowns results in local unemployment, higher taxes, and reduced services. By supporting locally-owned, independent businesses, communities keep their dollars working for them as they enrich the local economy, increase the diversity of available products, provide better service and improve the quality of life for all of us.

In the late summer of 2005, Kepler’s, a fifty-year-old independent bookstore in Menlo Park, California, abruptly shut down. Owner Clark Kepler explained that bookstore chains and Amazon.com had displaced so much of the store’s sales that he could no longer pay the bills. But before Kepler could file for bankruptcy, the business was swept up in an outpouring of community grief. Hundreds of local residents rallied outside the shuttered store, which was soon covered in forlorn love letters from customers describing how the bookstore had been the center of community life and what a loss it was. “Can’t the store be saved? You’re one of the main reasons I’m here.” Many offered money: “How about a monthly donation? I can do $50.00 a month. Give us a Web site so we can all support you. Let us help. Please.” Soon someone set up SaveKeplers.com and the pledges poured in. Five weeks after it had closed, Kepler’s was back, saved by a group of local investors who vowed to return the business to sound financial footing, and numerous small donations from residents.

One of the more remarkable aspects of this community effort to save a bookstore is that many of the people who rallied— who so adored this business that they could not conceive of their town without it and were willing to give their time and even their money to save it— confessed in interviews with reporters covering the story that they, too, had been buying more and more books online and at Target and Borders. They loved the store for its many author events and for the joy of browsing and meeting neighbors, and for the sense of community it fostered, but that devotion did not always translate into regular patronage. The store’s near closure brought into stark relief just what was at stake.

Across the country, people are coming to similar realizations about the value of locally owned, independent businesses— the beloved bookstores, century-old family hardware stores, local grocers, and funky neighborhood record stores— as well as the high cost to communities and local economies of the corporate retailers that have grown to dominate so much of our landscape. Independent Business Alliances have sprung up in more than three dozen communities since the late 1990s and, through creative marketing and educational campaigns, are making “locally owned” something residents are increasingly seeking and supporting. This explosion of activity may well herald the beginning of a change in our priorities as a society.

—The above excerpt is from Big-Box Swindle by Stacey Mitchell (Beacon Press 2006)

Each time we spend a dollar, we should consider the full value of our choices, and remember that each dollar is a vote for the future direction of our community. The votes we cast with our dollars every day influence our community at least as much as those cast on election days. Many customers are under-informed about the values independent businesses provide, both individually and collectively.

With better information, customers might more often choose to patronize local businesses because it benefits the community. Local owners with much of their life savings invested in their businesses have a natural interest in the long-term health of the community.

Chain stores are not inherently bad. Indeed, they deliver a consistent level of goods and services we appreciate. What would be bad is if we woke up to find nothing but chain stores, that your community had been reduced to “Anywhere, USA”. Each year brings more national chains displacing locally owned businesses.

Shop Locals First aims to reverse the trend of losing locally owned independent businesses by organizing collaborative efforts among members and creating a stronger bond between local businesses and the community.

	Locally owned independent businesses give back to the local community.
New and better jobs are created at all levels of the economy when money is recycled locally.		Local professional services such as accounting and banking, stay in the local area.
	More local residents are hired as managers and employees.

When local business owners and residents purchase services and supplies locally, the economic benefits affects the entire community. Shop Locals First is committed to educating the local consumers to this fact.

To find our more about the David vs. Goliath Marketing Program, click - HERE

"As a father and concerned citizen, I like the idea of keeping local dollars in my own community. I use my Shop Locals First Card for that very reason."

To find out more about the Shop Locals First Card and the
David vs. Goliath Marketing Program, please complete the form below.

If so, let us tell you how to encourage your customers to Shop Locals First.