Reasons You Should Support Small and Local Businesses

July 15, 2020

Without small and local businesses in our communities, there’d be no such thing as a special shopping or dining experience. In case you somehow haven’t heard, we’re currently in the middle of a pandemic that has forced businesses to close until further notice.

Of course businesses like Amazon, Walmart, and Target are doing fine, but the small businesses are struggling to hold on. The worst part about hearing that is a lot of people don’t realize how much local businesses affect their community.

If you’d like to learn more, I’ve got you covered with a list of reasons you should support small and local businesses starting today.

A lot of their income supports the local economy

I’m going to keep this point short and sweet.

According to one study, for every $100 spent at a locally-owned business, $68 stays in the local economy. That same study found that businesses with less than 500 employees make up 99.7% of U.S. employees.

In other words, supporting a local business means you’re supporting your friends, family, and community, and there’s a good chance you’re supporting their jobs too.

You get a much better customer experience

Unlike the big name stores, small and local businesses have the competitive advantage of offering a personal customer service experience. Think about the last time you went to a supermarket, chances are they had 30 cash registers with maybe 2 open.

Not to mention, there’s a good chance that nobody greeted you when you walked in. As if that wasn’t enough, the cashier probably didn't thank you after the transaction, or if they did, you know it’s only because they have to say thank you.

When you shop local, the owner or employees are more than happy to help you because they take immense pride in their work. Additionally, you’ll get an authentic thank you from the owner or employees.

In addition to the store experience itself, you’re more likely to have a positive product or service experience from a small and local business and the reason is simple. Small businesses know their target customer much more than big box stores. That said, small businesses are capable of offering products that are unique to the community or niche that they’re in.

You’re supporting someone’s livelihood and likely their family business

The majority of local businesses are still family-owned to this day, and some of those businesses have been handed down for generations. There’s nothing worse than seeing a local business that’s been a staple in the community go out of business because people stopped buying from them.

Of course, if the product was much worse than it was previously, that’s a different story. I’m not denying that the product has to be great. It absolutely does.

Keep in mind that the owner of that local business is part of your community too, not as a business owner, but as a resident. They value your community just as much you do, but they need your support to keep going.

You can help in more ways than financially

As you can see, many of the reasons you should support small and local businesses affect you directly one way or another. Now I completely understand that this is a challenging time for a lot of people, especially financially.

The good news is you can support local businesses in more ways than financially. Of course, they need to earn an income to survive, but they wouldn’t want you to risk your own financial well-being in an attempt to support them.

One of the best ways to support a local or small business is writing honest reviews about them on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and if they have one, their personal website.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it helps small businesses get recognized online. Moreover, one of the biggest challenges for small and local businesses is getting traffic. According to one study, 63.6% of customers check Google ratings before deciding to visit a store.

That same study found that customers didn’t trust businesses with less than 4 star ratings. In other words, if local businesses don't have online reviews, people either won’t consider shopping with them or won’t find the business online at all.

Some of my favorite small and local businesses

While many of these companies are based right here in NW Illinois, not all of them are. Either way, I encourage you to support each of them if you can!

Share this with your friends as they all need to know why they should support small and local businesses.