Why Shop Local

Not so long ago all of our business went towards supporting local businesses. Living in the era of corporate giants like Walmart and Amazon has made us forget the delight of going around the corner to pick up our groceries from a beloved Mom and Pop Shop. We no longer know the business owners we support and we lack the community feels that used to pervade our day-to-day lives. 

While there’s an undeniable thrill to scrolling through multiple stores’ inventory and buying items with a tap of a finger, We encourage you to remember there are many generations-old local businesses striving to survive and offer their consumers excellent service for the same price or less. Bezos, Amazon, and the rest have enough money. What would it mean to be able to shop conveniently while still supporting local businesses? 

It would mean the world. And we’re down to deliver you the world. 

While small businesses don’t always have what you need or aren’t able to deliver as cheaply as large corporations, each dollar spent goes directly to your community. Instead of supporting shareholders and billionaires, we encourage you to support your neighbors and your local community. Shopping local is truly the way to make a difference. Here’s how. 

10 Reasons to Shop Local & Support Small Businesses

Let’s explore the reasons & benefits of why shopping local is a good idea. By shopping local you: 

1. Help Out Your Fellow Neighbors.

Local businesses are the embodied dreams and ambitions of your fellow neighbors and community members. By supporting local businesses, you’re supporting the dreams of people who are an integral part of your community. You’ve likely known these local business owners since a young age, and have grown up seeing their business ride the tides of fortune and support local community efforts and little league teams. Why not make a difference? Invest in the shop owners who have invested in your community, through charity work, generosity, and by building deep personal bonds with everyone they serve. Your local chain store will never know your name, but these storeowners will.

2. Experience Truly Excellent Customer Service.

“Don’t have enough change right now? Don’t sweat it.” When’s the last time you heard that while out shopping? We bet it wasn’t recently unless you’re shopping local. It’s the little gestures like that that bring humanity back into our daily lives and our communities. While supporting local businesses, you’re more likely to receive excellent customer service. When you personally know the people you’re dealing with and they know you, the whole experience is a delight. And if you’re ever dissatisfied with anything, you can be assured your complaint will be taken seriously. That’s the beauty of living and shopping local in a close-knit community.  You’re taken seriously and treated like a human being.

3. Score Local Bargains.

While your local business may not have the limitless selection, they, too, often value local deals and prioritize local brands. And with the championing of local products, you’ll often encounter local bargains that national brands can’t beat or would never offer. Help bolster and support your local business ecosystem and also enjoy the bargains that come with local loyalty.

4. Give Your Local Entrepreneurs a Lifeline In Tough Times

5. Support People’s Passions and Entrepreneurial Spirit

Local businesses make up a vast chunk of the economy, 99% of all US businesses are small businesses & they accounted for 61.8% of net new jobs from the first quarter of 1993 until the third quarter of 2016. By voting with your wallet, you’re pushing back against the corporate narrative that only the mighty survive, and instead encourage normal local people to believe in the power of their dreams. And when you support local business, you’re encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to “go for it” and open up their dream business as well. And the more successful dreams you have in your community, the stronger and more interesting your commercial center will be.

6. Leverage Your Dollars for Maximum Impact.

Unlike Corporations, locally owned businesses circulate most of their earnings to other nearby businesses and suppliers. So when you shop local, your dollars go full circle in the community. Spend your money in the place that matters most to you and let your purchase make the biggest difference, dollar for dollar.

7. Take Care of the Environment

By shopping local, you become a steward of economic sustainability. By supporting local businesses you minimize your carbon footprint, by reducing the amount of travel and fossil fuels consumed to get your item to you. Local businesses help cut down transportation costs and reduce the volume of non-recyclable packaging used per purchase. Want to take a step forward in economic sustainability and taking care of our Earth? Shop Local.

8. Enjoy the Pure Uniqueness of Local Products

Mass-manufactured products are simply generic. Visit a McDonald’s or Walmart in any State, and all the same, items are there. Take pride in where you’re from and what that place has to offer. Variety (and uniqueness) are the spice of life. Use your hard-earned dollars to maximum pleasure by enjoying that locally famous restaurant or cafe that has something on the menu that nobody can replicate. Local business owners put their heart and soul into their products, and you deserve to enjoy something unique. Explore and enjoy your local products and community.

9. Shopping Local is Community Care

When you shop locally, you support the businesses that support your local community. From little leagues to community fundraisers, local businesses pitch in, Infact Small businesses donate 250% more to local non-profits and community causes than larger businesses. Consumers report higher levels of satisfaction when they shop from a local store. They know they’re giving back to those who care, instead of the big box stores. Strengthen your community by shopping locally.

Apart from community care, shopping local is also considered safer as Local Business owners tend to be more responsible towards the community than the big box stores. After all, they are also part of that community.

10. Shop Local Leads to Better Living

From farmer’s markets to local boutiques, local stores often have better quality items. Some small businesses make their own goods, while others use quality local ingredients. Over 30% of consumers say they prefer to shop local, due to its higher quality.

The list doesn’t just end here, there are numerous other reasons to shop local. But these were in our opinion main reasons to support your local community for the greatest impact and enjoyment that you deserve. Let’s Shop Local and Make a World of Difference. 

Support Your Local Community the Right Way: How to Start Supporting Local Businesses

Now that you know the difference that shopping local can make, here are some ways to support small businesses & begin your transition to becoming a hero of a hometown shopper.

1. Consider Curbside Pick-Up

While the big brands are making contactless pick-up easy, small local businesses are working hard to keep you safe as well! Before defaulting to a corporation, go online or call your local business and see if that can offer you the same convenience. (Odds are, they can.) And given the stress the pandemic has had on small businesses, your local business will appreciate your business far more than any corporation might. Local businesses take pride in treating their customers right, and we have no doubt they’ll continue to deliver and work for you during this time.

2. Search Local Online

The odds are high that your local businesses have adapted and gone online. We strongly recommend calling your local favorites to see if they’re offering new or pandemic-specific services. If you never ask, you’ll never know! The probabilities are that your local businesses, such as dry cleaners, restaurants, and office supply stores, maybe functioning as pandemic sanitizers, commissaries, and suppliers of PPE. You can also check out Lowkel to explore your local stores in your area.

3. Buy Local Gift Cards

With holidays around the corner and birthdays ever-lasting, there’s no better way to support a business than with a gift card. Even if you’re not eating out or frequenting salons, restaurants, spas, or gyms now, a gift card helps a business stay afloat and gives you the treat to look forward to in the future.

4. Take Care of Your Caretakers

If you’re lucky enough to still be employed during this pandemic, we suggest offering a lifeline to those who’ve supported you over the years. If you can afford to, continue to pay your babysitter, nanny, housecleaner, or your barber. The same applies to any suspended memberships or subscriptions you may have, such as your gym or the local newspaper. These businesses and employees have stood by you through time, and it’s time to take care of them as well.

5. Spread the Word

Support doesn’t always have to be monetary. If you can’t afford to pre-pay via gift cards or keep employees on the payroll, you can also support local businesses and entrepreneurs through word of mouth. Share their social media page with your friends or write them a nice review. Word of mouth goes a long way; spread the word and help local businesses survive. Feel free to check out these Last Minute Gift Ideas for the 2023 Holiday Season and Birthdays

6. Be a Trendsetter

Even if your impact in your local community has been minimized, you can still make a big difference in the shop local movement. Tell your friends why and how to shop local and support local businesses. You can multiply your impact by having a ripple effect through your social circles and community. Why not start spreading the word today? If nothing else, it will tell these people that you are there for them. You never know how far a little gesture may go.

7. Tip Generously.

With tight employment conditions, people are working odd jobs to meet ends. If you can, tip generously. While some businesses offer hazard pay, many do not. By offering a larger tip, you’re acknowledging the risk employees might be taking at this moment, and are helping those in lower-paying positions survive.

8. Volunteer for Your Favorite Local Business

We all know that volunteering can make a huge difference in someone’s life. We don’t often contemplate volunteering for a local business, but you can! If you’re good at valuable skills like web design or graphics, why not help and support local businesses enhance their online presence? It can make a real difference if you market their stores online or give them a strong online presence. Again, you can multiply your impact by helping a business extend its reach and increase its bottom line. Beyond that, teaching a local business owner how to rank higher in search results and funnel more business to their page can truly have a difference, far greater than you simply doubling your next order at their business.

9. Stay Steady if You Can

If there are subscriptions and memberships that you purchased that you don’t feel like you’re currently using, we encourage you to consider the situation of the business before you decide to cancel and demand a refund. If possible, how might you support your local business through the simply generous act of not asking for a refund?

We Believe in Local Business.

At Lowkel we understand the struggles of small-scale businesses because we’ve been there too. We know the challenges of getting a business off the ground, and we’re aiming to support our local business ecosystem by offering a way for local businesses to have a larger online reach. At Lowkel we help you bring your inventory online, reach more customers, and deliver results at the speed today’s customers expect. 

It’s hard taking on the big guys, but at Lowkel, we make that a little easier. As a Marketplace Vendor, we offer you a way to share and update your inventory online, reach new consumers, and have efficient and speedy shipping without the logistical nightmares and paperwork. Leave that to us. We’re heading places and we’d love to take you with us. Lowkel believes in local businesses – come join our movement of shopping local and revolutionizing what business can be.

With our integrated inventory and delivery system, we’re proud to help you handle your shipping logistics with our premium customer service experience. We’ll help you delight your customers and keep them.

Thanks to our locational services we help locals browse new (and favorite) spots near them, and help businesses and future customers find each other, especially when they’re only a block or two away. We help customers find just what they need, at local businesses, just around the corner.

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Shop Local and Stay Safe.

We know that you’re itching to support your local businesses. That said, with the pandemic continuing, many of us have to stay at home to stay safe.

With Lowkel, you can have the best of both worlds. You can search and shop for local businesses online, click buy, and have your local goods delivered to you within the day. We’re that good. Welcome to responsible safe local shopping. Lowkel.

Spread the Word. We’re always looking for ways to support local businesses and our local community. While we’ve shared with you our top tricks and ideas for how to keep our local business strong, the rest, is ultimately up to you. As we head into the season, we ask that you shop local, stay safe, and spread the word of the power of local commerce to your friends and family.

We can make a difference. It starts with you and it starts with Lowkel. We can’t wait to keep you safe, deliver impressive results, and keep our local economy strong.

Read more on How Buying Local can be Safer