The more times money passes around a community the more it enhances that community’s general prosperity. Shopping and dining locally allows many independent business people to earn the same dollar as it is repeatedly spent on goods and services from one business to another.
This benefit of shopping locally is known as the multiplier effect and is often overlooked. There are many other benefits to staying close to home when spending on holiday gifts or Shopping Small as it is also known. The most obvious perk is that some money from the sales tax collected stays here, where it benefits public efforts and local governments.
For several years, the Saturday following Thanksgiving has been designated Small Business Saturday in Naperville and other communities around the country. The name trademarked and promoted by American Express is meant to set itself apart from Black Friday, when big box retailers offer spectacular holiday discounts, and Cyber Monday, which is devoted to online shopping.
Small Business Saturday, which encourages shoppers to patronize local small businesses, has grown every year since it started in 2010, according to accounts from local merchants.
It is encouraging that many Naperville shoppers decided to visit their local independent retailers that Saturday — and continue to patronize downtown stores and other local retailers in town.
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Money that is spent online, or with big box retailers, leaves the community, or even the country, immediately. Once it does, it can’t be spent on a taxi ride, a meal, a broken pipe or a hand-made decoration. Shopping locally allows people to spend their money with each other, not some far away corporation.
Shopping in local stores also allows them to stock more inventory and provide a greater variety of goods. If you have been frustrated by your inability to find what you want in local stores, the reason is probably the prevalence of online shopping. That can become a vicious circle, but one that is easily broken by shoppers who visit local stores first.
The benefits of visiting local stores are not only financial. Local business owners are also our neighbors. They serve in local government, as volunteers, and as members of community organizations. It has been said that a community is only as strong as its businesses, and we think that is probably true.
Members of the small business community, and groups such as IndieBound-Naperville, an organization of independent thinkers and merchants, will readily tell you that shopping locally was never intended to be confined to a single Saturday. It should be a first choice every day, especially during the holidays.
We think that choice is the best way to ensure that Naperville remains vibrant and alive, with people in the streets, in our stores and in our restaurants. In 2015, 95 million people nationwide went out to shop at small businesses. We are confident that number will be even greater this year.
The latest fad is to have stores that do not employ salespeople and that rely on computers and eventually even drones. However, a drone can’t answer a question, wish you a nice day or in turn buy the service that your business provides. Employees are consumers, but they’re also neighbors and friends. We think prosperity is something we should all be able to share, and that the best way to do that is to Shop Small.