By now, most of you are familiar with some type of “Shop Local” slogan, thanks to awareness campaigns by American Express and other organizations. What does it mean and why does it matter?Money spent locally continues to circulate among local businesses. Depending on the study you read, about $65 -75 of every $100 spent in a locally owned business stays in the local economy, while only about $30-50 of every $100 spent in a chain business stays in the local economy.Even if you buy from a chain store in Moravia or Locke, there still is a benefit because these stores pay local property and school taxes and pay wages to employees who in turn spend money locally. In addition, local business owners are more likely than chain stores to purchase other services locally such as bookkeeping, banking, building maintenance etc.If you shop online, the only local benefit to us comes through wages paid to postal, UPS or FedEx employees who live and spend money here. We are not suggesting that you should make all of your purchases in town. There are many items that just can’t be purchased here at a reasonable cost. We know that money is tight.You also have a right to good service. While we all believe that our service is great, sometimes we fall short, however there is one thing you can do here that isn’t as easy with a chain store. Because we live in a small town, we know each other. You can talk to us.In a sense all of us who live in the area are “related”, maybe not by blood, but we all depend on each other for support. If you aren’t happy with the overall product or service you receive, please have a conversation with the owner. We are happy to fix whatever it may be, but we need to know about it. Our local business economy is a complex yet fragile eco-system. Our shopping districts are drastically different than 50 or 100 years ago, as evident in the historic pictures in this paper, but compared to our neighboring hamlets and villages we are doing quite well. Having a grocery, pharmacy, dollar store, gas station and several banks in town helps keep everything else together. We can’t afford to lose any one of these without losing most if not all of the other businesses.Many of our local business owners will soon have “I Shop Local” stickers like the one pictured above available free for the asking. If you can, please put one on your car, truck or tote bag and help share our message. Don’t feel guilty being seen out of town at the mall or one of the chains. All we ask is that you try shopping local first and give us a chance.
