In choosing where to shop, many people look first at prices, then location and then the name of the store, with little thought given to the importance of supporting small, local businesses. Small local businesses provide advantages to the surrounding community that large big box retailers cannot offer. Understanding those advantages can encourage customers to support their local merchants.
Shopping at small, local businesses can have a significant impact on the local economy. Businesses pay sales tax to the city and county where the business is located. When patrons make the choice to leave the area to do their shopping, they are supporting areas outside of their own. Large businesses also pay sales taxes to the local government.
The money paid to local governments by small, local businesses is used for many things, including the financing of roads, public schools, sidewalks and parks. In addition, those tax dollars help to fund additional public service workers such as police officers and firefighters. Many cities subsidize youth sports leagues that are sponsored by the parks department. The money used to fund such activities comes from taxes, which are paid in part by small local businesses as sales tax revenue.
Each year, cities calculate the amount of sales tax revenue that they anticipate receiving from their local businesses. That revenue estimate is used to forecast the following year's budget needs and the budget gets decided. If the revenue does not match the estimate, the city goes over budget, which can cause financial issues. Local businesses that are able to maintain positive growth through sales tax revenue each year help meet the city's financial needs. In addition, the city is able to project the following year's probable revenue figures based on the local business' revenue the previous year.
Small local businesses provide job opportunities for local residents. This can be in the way of part-time help, or full-time management. Local jobs keep the residents in town during their shift, so the advantages extrapolate outward as the employee spends money at the local restaurant during meal breaks, gasses up at the local station to get to work and stops at the local grocery store on the way home at night. The advantage of a small local business employing local residents creates a domino effect that helps the community as a whole.
In addition, small local businesses typically provide better customer service than their large, corporate counterparts. The small business owner often lives in the community, worships, plays sports and socializes with community members, and cares about the individuals who patronize his business. Because of his personal involvement with the community, he will strive to provide the best service possible to customers.
Aside from providing local job opportunities, small, local businesses support the area through their everyday needs. Small businesses open accounts at local banks, hire local CPAs and attorneys and when they need supplies they can step down the street to get them quickly. Running a small local business provides automatic advantages in the daily operations.
- store front image by Derek Abbott from Fotolia.com