Buy Local + Keep NWI Strong!
In our journey to support the region, NWI Strong strives to provide resources and up-to-date information to help Northwest Indiana thrive, providing some hope among the uncertainty along the way. As a small business ourselves we understand the struggle for our community and have come up with one simple solution on how you can help…
SUPPORT LOCAL!
National and international retailers like Amazon can provide some benefits as a purchasing resource during normal economic conditions, especially in regards to convenience and sourcing products that may not be available locally.
But understanding the incredibly important aspect of keeping as much money within our own community as possible during the current pandemic is quite literally going to be the difference between survival and shuttering for many small businesses here in the Region.
Big Retail is a well-oiled machine. It’s convenient and cheap, but it’s also incredibly destructive to local economies, especially right now. At NWI Strong, we don’t think it’s worth sending our hard-earned money away from our area in exchange for two-day shipping.
We found some key information from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance to help show the importance of supporting local and ensuring our business neighbors across Northwest Indiana survive and thrive.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
With unemployment at an all-time high, most businesses are struggling to keep their employees working and paid. While it may be tempting to buy through a big online retailer, doing so may very well be the end of many local businesses here in Northwest Indiana.
Even in the best of times, online retailers employ just a fraction of the employees that local small businesses do. A distribution center is set up to employ a limited number of people to maximize the profits for national or global ownership.
Small locally owned businesses offer more varied and more specialized career opportunities for us and our neighbors, employing 47 workers for every $10,000,000 in sales generated, while online retailers like Amazon employs around 19 workers.
In this time of unprecedented uncertainty in the job market, supporting local businesses means almost 2.5x more chances for our neighbors in Northwest Indiana to be and stay employed.
For every $10,000,000 in sales, Amazon employs just nineteen people, compared to independent retailers employing 47 – a 147% increase in job creation.
Funding Our Own Community
There is no doubt online retailers do create some employment opportunities, but how many of those are actually in your neighborhood? Even if there happens to be a major warehouse sort of close, unless it’s within your city limits, there is no benefit to local property taxes.
And even if it is in your city, it’s very likely they have received some kind of tax break to be there, meaning not only did they reduce the number of available jobs, but the small businesses they replaced are no longer paying their share of taxes which help keep our community alive.
Northwest Indiana’s brick and mortar storefronts give our towns and cities life and a unique feel in every place they sprout up. If there are fewer local businesses, it means those that survive will need to pay more each year to try to keep up with funding local projects, including schools, hospitals, roads, and plenty more.
Losing small businesses doesn’t mean less competition – every time we lose one, the weight of taxes is spread across both those that still exist and households in the community, increasing the burden we all feel.
Now more than ever, public services and our neighbors who rely on them need our help, and a large part of that is staying funded.
Local is Crucial
Ask anyone in Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered, and you’ll hear a plethora of complaints regarding the company holding onto hundreds of millions of dollars rather than reinvesting revenue into the economy.
It’s pretty obvious that, if they can’t even reinvest into their own community in Washington, they probably won’t invest in ours either.
Local businesses are not only owned and operated by our neighbors here in Northwest Indiana, but they also support local supply chains, retail and food producers, delivery services, cleaning services, and plenty of other economic benefits.
It’s pretty simple math, but the more we patronize our local businesses, the more resources they have to give back to the community. From increasing the pay of their own employees to donating money, goods, and services around the community, healthy local businesses are crucial to keeping the Region strong and healthy, no matter the external problems.
Who will be left standing when this is over? Will your favorite restaurant make it? Your favorite gym or local market? Your neighbor’s business?Where you and your family spend your money has a direct impact on keeping these businesses and our communities alive and healthy.
Support Our Community
Next time you go for a drive, ride past your local sports complex. You’ll notice dozens of local businesses offering funding and donations, most or all of which you will already know by name.
Absent are huge digital retailers, and it’s no surprise they are missing. Quite simply, they have no interests in local charities and organizations and have no real reason to help solve local problems.
Small businesses truly are the engines driving the entire Region forward, acting as the catalyst for impressive downtowns, strong communities, and much more involved citizens.
Will your downtown just be a ghost town of empty buildings for lease or will it survive and thrive? What are the real consequences of spending money outside of our community right now? Simply put, the big digital retailers get rich, and Northwest Indiana becomes increasingly more dependent on billionaires and their corporations.
We lose our right to our favorite local pizza shop, our neighbors lose their livelihoods, and the entire Region suffers.
This is more than a choice between convenience and going an extra step to buy local – this is the choice of what kind of future we want for our children and our community.
Next time you look to spend your hard-earned money, utilize our resources here at NWI Strong to buy local.