It’s Independents Week! That’s not a typo. The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) encourages everyone from July 1 – July 7 to celebrate your local small businesses.
Why Independents Week?
Following are 5 facts on the local impact you have buying from independent business:
- Each dollar spent at local businesses returns on average 3 times more money to the local economy than a dollar spent at big box retailers. (AMIBA)
- Spending locally keeps your taxes lower.
- Small businesses donate more than twice as much per sales dollar to local charities as big businesses. (Frishkoff & Kostecka)
- Got a customer service issue? You’re likely to be more satisfied at a small business.
- Shopping local creates community. The frequent casual encounters and relationships lead to more civic engagement. (Lyson et. al.)
Build Community with your Apple Pie
How would you rather get your apple pie for this upcoming 4th of July holiday? Ultimately, you’ll have three options:
- Staring at your laptop screen for an hour and finding a beaten-up apple pie at your doorstep the next day,
- Driving to a twenty acre parking lot and getting a pie that looks exactly like the one you’ve had the past five years,
- Biking to your local small business and exchanging pleasant goodbyes with the owner as you walk out the door, fresh apple pie in hand.
Hardly a choice, right? Take this Independents Week to treat yourself and your community.
Learn More About Independents Week and Local Business
AMIBA, www.amiba.net.
Patricia A. Frishkoff and Alicja M. Kostecka, “Business Contributions to Community Service,” U.S. Small Business Administration, 1991.
Thomas A. Lyson, Robert J. Torres, Rick Welsh, Scale of Agricultural Production, Civic Engagement, and Community Welfare, Social Forces, Volume 80, Issue 1, September 2001, Pages 311–327,
