Support your local business

It is good to support local businesses as they care about and are invested in the well-being of the local community and its future.  Local businesses are more accountable to their local communities and donate more money to non-profits.  Supporting local businesses is good for the environment because they often have a smaller carbon footprint than larger companies.

There are lots of great reasons for supporting local small businesses. These include local farmers, craftsmen, antique dealers, and other product providers, with items made locally and sold on a small scale.

By supporting your local entrepreneurs, you are:

Improve your family’s health.
Buying local foods has numerous health benefits for your family. When you buy from local farmers, you have access to fruits and vegetables that you know are chemical-free, as well as grass-fed meats, fresh eggs, and dairy from cows that feast on local green grass each day. There are also benefits to eating raw local honey, which is thought to help battle allergies.

Improve the local economy.
When a consumer buys local, significantly more of that money stays in the community. In fact, one study found that for every £100 spent at a local business, £68 remained in the local area. Whereas with a chain retailer only £43 of each £100 spent remained in the local area.

Local business owners often have the incentive to support other local businesses, patronizing local establishments for both business and personal reasons. Chain businesses, on the other hand, tend to get their supplies from corporate, as well as having store managers and employees that aren’t as personally invested in buying local.

Know the people behind the product.
When you personally know the people behind the business where you’re buying local products and services, you enjoy a connection you would not otherwise have. Along with the rest of the community, you celebrate when a favorite local business succeeds and you mourn when it’s forced to shut its doors. This personal investment isn’t quite as present when a chain business closes, aside from feeling disappointed that you have fewer businesses within convenient driving distance.

Keep your community unique.
Local businesses give a community its flavor. Towns across the UK have similar chain restaurants, grocery, and department stores, but that restaurant down the street where you have breakfast every Saturday morning is one-of-a-kind. The combined presence of your town’s many local businesses makes it different from every other city in the world. By supporting those businesses instead of chains, you ensure that uniqueness is preserved as a part of your community.

Better customer service.
If you’ve ever dealt with a large corporation, you know getting help can be a nightmare. You’ll call a number, only to be transferred several times and put on hold. Even when you speak to a customer service representative, that person is so far removed from the decision-making process, there’s little concern that the company will lose you as a customer.

When you shop locally, the business owner is usually directly connected to every employee in the store. That leads to a personal approach that often means any problem you have is taken seriously.

More personalized service.
Having the owner nearby also means that the owner personally knows his customers. He knows the products you buy or the services you request on a regular basis and can tailor services to make your experience even better. A local gardening shop owner may learn about a new product on the market that can help you with a pest control problem you mentioned on one of your visits, for instance, and can order that product as part of his selections.

Buying local has benefits beyond mere convenience. When you support local business owners, you get a better level of service, as well as helping make your community a better place to live. This is in addition to the health benefits and access to unique products that you usually can’t find with chain locations.

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