“Buy Local” Movement Benefits You, and the Community
Buying goods and services locally has always been a good idea, but it is especially important now after Sandy devastated our area. Many businesses have been hit hard, and purchasing from our local businesses will help them recover.
Buying locally has a number of advantages:
1) First and foremost, it keeps our friends and neighbors working.
2) Dollars spent locally circulate in the community and stimulate growth and opportunities for more businesses to open.
3) Buying local helps build the community’s tax base and boosts charitable giving. Business owners are making an investment in the town, and many “give back” in order to help the whole area prosper. Business owners typically order goods from other local businesses, creating a “trickle-down” effect of dollars flowing.
4) Local stores are more likely to carry locally produced foods and products. This gives a boost to local agriculture and trades.
5) Products produced locally are often “greener,” because they don’t require as many fossil fuels to reach you.
Many times you will see the “Buy Local” sentiment expressed as “support Mom and Pop stores.” Business owners are also your friends and neighbors, and by buying from them, you support their whole family as well.
The Chambers of Commerce in our area support the “Buy Local” movement, encouraging residents to patronize area businesses. After Sandy, Toms River Online, the local community web site, launched “Support the Shore” – an effort to simply remind everyone that supporting local businesses needs to be part of the shore restoration effort. The idea is that we must re-build houses and buildings, but also help businesses get back on their feet. See www.supporttheshore.com for more information.
