9 Great Reasons You Should Buy Local
We’ve all heard it before: shop locally whenever you can as it helps support local business and entrepreneurs. But has as anyone ever told you all the best reasons why? There’s likely more benefits than you think!
1.) Improve your local economy. When you buy locally, your dollars are doing a lot more for your community than if they're spent elsewhere. According to the private research firm Civic Economics, independent retailers return more than three times as much money per dollar of sales to the local community when compared to their chain competitors. This is done in the form of spending done by those businesses supporting other local businesses for their operations, and also as the employees and business owners spend their own income in the local economy. On the other hand, chain stores tend to source their goods from their own corporate supply chain, and have employees that aren’t as personally invested in buying local. Last and definitely least, when you buy online, less than 1% of the dollars you spend are returned to your community!
2.) Better customer experiences. I’m sure we can all think of times where being at a local shop yielded a very personalize, intimate, even memorable experience than all those times we walked into big chain stores. Local business owners and their employees are often times very passionate about their field, and they take more time to get to know their customers considering each one means more to them than the millions that chain stores take for granted! This is absolutely the case when you compare your local mortgage brokerage to places like Bank of America, or impersonal online mortgage companies, where clients tend to be treated as just another loan. For us, we approach the process as helping our community make wiser financial decisions, and love providing friendly and professional service to help our customers make some of the biggest decisions they will ever make! It’s a huge responsibility we proudly take on for the betterment of our community. (See Also: Why EVER Choose a Mortgage Broker Over a Bank?)
3.) Invest in the community. Local business, such as Better Home Financial, are committed to their community’s success, and are far less likely to leave than chain stores. Because of this, they tend to make more charitable donations of time and money to community organizations. This is why we constantly give back to community youth programs, and why our CFO is also President-Elect of the San Dimas Rotary! In fact, Non-Profits receive as much as 350% more money from locally owned compared to non-locally owned businesses.
4.) It’s actually healthier for you. When you buy locally from farmer’s markets, or local butchers and growers themselves, you’re purchasing produce that has far less chemicals and pesticides compared to multinational industrial food manufacturers. Also, its far easier to get grass-fed beef, pasture raised chicken and pork, and overall higher quality animal products in things like eggs and dairy. One of the biggest health benefits comes from consuming raw, local honey. The pollen bees harvest from local flowers are present in their honey, and there are numerous studies showing that if you consume local honey, it acts as a primer for your body to battle allergies caused by pollen in the air.
5.) Support the real job creators. Most new jobs are provided by local businesses, in fact small business is America’s largest employer!
6.) Foster distinctive character and uniqueness. Imagine if every city had nothing but Targets, Albertsons, Pizza Huts? There really wouldn’t be anything distinctive between one town to the next, and if you’re like us, you’re already feel a sense of cultural sterilization thinking of such a homogenized reality. With one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants staying in business, the unique presence of our communities stay preserved!
7.) Better for the environment. It’s no secret that large corporations are responsible for an exorbitant amount of waste and pollution, not to mention they utilize far more environmentally unfriendly transportation and trucking services to get their products. By shopping local, you cut out the sprawl, congestion, habitat loss, resource depletion, and pollution!
8.) Diversity of products and more competition. Small business gives its community far more options in regards to unique products, expanding the options of its customers. In fact, local business are designed to carry what their community wants as they only do business in that area, compared to a national brand. Often those goods are sourced locally, or are truly singular compared to the homogenized product selection of chain stores.
9.) Supports future growth of the community. This one’s pretty simple, but worth mentioning. Shopping locally is the best way to attract new business to the area, increase investment, and create a multitude of cascading economic benefits and the town grows and becomes more of a small business hub!
Luckily for us in here San Dimas, it’s easy to find quaint shops and small businesses to support, including a Farmer’s Market every Wednesday near the Library during the Spring and Summer Months, the historic downtown area where we are located, and many more! We firmly believe in supporting local business and the community as much as possible, this is why we take steps to support local programs every year. So next time you or someone you know needs a mortgage or refinance, shop locally and give us a chance to earn your business. Let us show you how we provide better service, better rates, and better advice at Better Home Financial! Use our FREE Rate Quoter Tool here to see how much we can save you!
