Why Buy Local?

Heard any of this?

Buy Local

Circulate Your Dollars Locally

Support the Local Business

Invest In Your Valley

Of course you have.  I used to think it was just a way to support your neighbor and her business rather than giving it to a big box store and not knowing what's happened to it.  It's more than that.
A local business is likely to spend 45 cents of every dollar locally, where as a corporate chain will spend only 15 cents locally.  When money continues to be spent locally, this creates a multiplier effect; that dollar becomes $1.81

This may not sound like much on the small scale so let's look at it just a bit bigger.  If Jack spends his money locally, it likely will remain local much longer than if he were to spend it at a big box store.  For example, overtime Jack spends $5000 at the Food Co-op, the Co-op buys $2250 worth of vegetables from John, John pays $1012 to Jane for her accounting services, Jane buys a wedding dress from a local retailer for $455, retailer buys dresses from seamstress for $205, and the seamstress buys $92 worth of groceries at the Co-op.  Now, let this not be a lesson in mark-up.  This example doesn't necessarily mean that the retailer has a mark-up over 200%; rather, each time money is spent a local business, that business will spend about 45% of their money locally.

Every dollar that's re-spent locally is equal to a new dollar that comes into the community from abroad.  So, we'll take our original $5000 and add the 45% that continued to be re-spent locally at each business. 

5000 + 2250 + 1012 + 455 + 205 + 92 + 62 (total of all other rounds)= $9076

So, $5000, when spent locally, becomes $4076 extra to the community that normally would have to be brought in somehow.

Now, consider that Jack spends his $5000 at a big box store.  About 85% of this will leave town, leaving only $750 spent locally.

Anytime money leaves town, someone needs to figure out how to get it back.  Why not just keep it local?  If nothing else, at least you know who the money's going to.