Support local business because it supports you

A middle-aged woman stands staring out the window of her once prosperous floral shop as traffic continues to bypass the small rural town. An old gentleman hangs a “Going out of Business” sign on his lumber supply store. He proceeds to watch as a local citizen of his once booming town drives down Main Street with a load of lumber from the large town 45 minutes away.

This is our age of corporate America, filled with online purchases and cheaper prices. The ultimate problem arising from businesses that take over small communities and the “mom and pop stores.”

Anyone that knows me well knows that I frequently bring up supporting hometown stores. They are the backbone of America that enables thousands of small communities all over the world to survive. My grandpa worked hard for many years in my hometown managing the grocery store. Now, my dad manages the store, supporting a community of around 600 people. On a monthly basis, he gets news of small grocery stores in small communities falling to bigger businesses. It is a constant reminder that the same could happen to his small town with corporate stores 12 miles down the road. On a daily basis he loses support because people feel it is more practical to go to those stores.

This problem affects other countries negatively as well. Even big cities like London. On my study abroad trip last May, our tour guide brought up the issue. A new multiple story shopping center took the place of an entire city block in London, away from any sort of small stores. She told us that she gets mixed feelings when it comes to these shopping centers because all those neat family-owned shops are falling one by one.

Here is the great news about shopping at locally owned businesses. That money is reinvested into the community by store owners that share similar values. A carpenter buys lumber from the local lumber supply. The lumber supply owner takes his family to the local movie theater. The owner of the movie theater spends money at the supermarket. The owner of the supermarket is able to provide employment for more people. Those employees continue to shop locally, which leads to a prosperous community. A family in that community can complete a full cycle by hiring the carpenter to put an addition on their home.

Undoubtedly, there are things that you have to buy from big businesses. I would be lying if I said that I don’t shop on the internet for clothing from time to time. Maybe I have to go to a bigger city to find a pair of hiking boots, because there is no place to get them locally. Some of those things can be understood.

However, we have done that to ourselves. As we grow further away from small businesses, they rely on us less. They can’t afford to have as much in stock and we can’t expect people to open up a business that provides a service that won’t be supported.

In this fast-paced world of hedonistic values, we tend to only worry about ourselves. We don’t always think about how we can give back or what is best for our community. I have witnessed people drive over an hour to watch a movie they could see at the local movie theater. I have heard people say they drove 30 minutes to buy a get-well card because “it was just a better price.” Really people? Let’s be real, nobody wants to drive an hour to go get milk after a long day at work. Unfortunately, it may come to that if things don’t change.