Every time you are out and about on the weekends you are conscious of how much you are spending and how often you are putting money into the economy. During these tough economic times it seems people are becoming more and more aware of this. One very important aspect of this is buying local. By buying local I mean purchasing goods and services from locally owned and independent providers. Austin already has big initiatives for driving this business with campaigns such as, “Keep Austin Weird” and The Austin Independent Business Alliance’s push for homegrown stimulus.
The economic impact of shopping local is 3 ½ times as great as shopping at chain stores. This is why locally owned businesses tend to buy their goods and services from other locals as opposed to going outside the family, if you will, to the national chain businesses. Take a look at this article (Buy local) and see that for every $100.00 spent at a local establishment, $45.00 remains in our economy as opposed to only $13.00 that remains from a $100.00 purchase at a chain business. Another great way to look at this is from a more “what’s in it for me” attitude. When it all comes down to it, we need to do what is best for our families and ourselves. Well, buying local will promote the local economy and help sustain it throughout tough economic times. This in turn will provide more local shops and help to bring more innovation and competition to our community. Without this, the national chains will expand and envelop our local businesses, causing monopolies all over town. Supporting local businesses will help to create more jobs for Austinites as a whole, thus creating a better quality of life. Local business owners tend to buy their goods and services from other local shops, linking our community together in a web of economic growth.
Austin is a city deeply rooted in its independent attitude and thought. We need to make sure that it stays that way by shopping local. Austin is the capital of Texas and I know that I want to see it stay that way, and not crumble to the “anytown, USA” mold that so many other American cities have already fallen victim to. I am proud to be a citizen of such an innovative city and it is good to see such a push to keep our economy strong. I am also proud to be a part of AVENDE, a locally owned, locally operated business here in Austin who supports other local businesses to provide a strong back bone to our community.
Remember to shop local and produce local. It will help us all in the end.