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It’s funny how easy it is to shop nowadays. You can pull open your computer, search for an item, and find it in Google. It takes only minutes to fill your shopping cart and spend your money – maybe that is part of their genius plan! There are so many large stores and it makes it almost impossible to get your products out there if you are a small, local store, but I believe that buying local is so very important and if you are not already doing so, please consider starting today. Let’s jump into the importance of buying local:
Quality Items
Small, local companies typically get most of their business two ways: referrals and repeat customers. Because of this, their products need to be quality items. That is one reason why you will want to buy local. For example, Located in Atlanta, GA, East Point Foundry views each project as unique opportunities and a chance to honour those who have given so much to the causes they are passionate about. They put hard work into each item they create and you can definitely tell that they are selling quality items.
East Point Foundry says, “Whether a corporate office or a government institution, lettering combines sophistication, class, and power. We all know instinctively a business or institution with half lighted signs, or chipped letters does not respect its own image. East Point Foundry enjoys the process of transforming basic signage and lettering into works of art which command respect.” Since 1948, East Point Foundry has handcrafted custom-made bronze and aluminum plaques, bronze, cast metal, or plastic lettering, and other projects, as well. East Point Foundry cuts out the middleman since it is one of the few foundry’s still remaining to this day. This means that you will get a lower cost but a higher quality product.
Supporting Actual People
Of course, shopping big supports ‘actual people,’ as well, but when you shop local, you know exactly who you are purchasing from and that is part of the joy in it. To make it even better, a lot of times you know the local seller, or have a connection with them, since you live in the same community.
Better Service
We’ve all been there – looking for something in a giant store and can’t find an employee to help, or being told an aisle number and then wandering around for another 10 minutes looking for it. When you shop at a large business, sometimes you can feel like a number. Shopping local makes you feel so much more valued as a customer, and since you are more valued, you get better service! Local sellers are often times very concerned with making sure you have the best buying experience possible. I find that they will help me choose the perfect product and give me one-on-one attention and advice while I am doing it! Nothing beats great service and great products.
The Local Economy Benefits
When you shopping local and promoting local businesses, they make more money and are able to hire new employees or raise the wages of current employees, which helps boost your local economy. Did you know that small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970’s? According to SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration), “Since 1990, as big business eliminated 4 million jobs, small businesses added 8 million new jobs.” I do not know about you, but I would love for my local economy to help support those statistics.
Go Green!
Shopping small and local definitely reduces the environmental impact because you are reducing transportation. Think about it – when you purchase a purse online from a major company, they have to make the product, ship it to the store (usually by plane, boat and/or truck). Then, they ship it from the store to you, once again by plane, boat and/or truck. If you purchase a purse from a local leather maker, you are cutting the transportation amount in half, or more than half. That is a huge difference!
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