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1. Buy Local -- Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business,
rather than nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses,
service providers and farms -- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community. Studies have shown that as much
as 3 times more of your dollars recirculate in the local economy.
2. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller locally owned
businesses than they do from large national businesses.
3. Keep our community unique. Where we shop, where we eat and have fun -- all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind
businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place.
4. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and
generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less
to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
5. Create more good jobs: Small locally owned businesses are the largest employernationally and in our community, providing
the most jobs to residents.
6. Get better service: Locally owned businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are
selling and take more time to get to know customers.
7. Invest in community: Locally owned businesses have owners and employees who live in this community, are less likely
to leave, and are more invested in the community*s future.
8. Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment
and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
9. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of locally owned businesses
is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products
based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader
range of product choices.
10. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs
and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive
character.
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