A couple of weeks ago I was in Atlanta and had the opportunity to visit a number of retailers who do business with the company I work for. One of our last visits was with a small retailer in Loganville, GA – just north of ATL. They shared with me a flier they hand out to all of their customers about the benefits of buying local. The sheet doesn't have copyright information on it and the store owners don't know where they got it so my apologies if you wrote it and aren't getting credit.
Here are the first five reasons:
1. Keep money in local community: For every $100.00 spent locally, $68.00 stays in our community.
2. Keep our community unique: One-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of our distinctive character leading to the benefits of tourism.
3. Create local jobs: small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community.
4. Reduce environmental impact: locally owned business make more local purchases requiring less transportation, contribute less to urban sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
5. Get better service: local businesses generally hire people with better understanding of their product and more time to get to know the customer.
What are your thoughts? Does it matter if we buy local?