By Rich Dupree

How many times have you heard the marketing slogan “Shop Local”?  Just a few months ago on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the day after Black Friday, we all were encouraged to shop locally on “Small Business Saturday”.

But do we really “Love the Locals” when it comes to our shopping carts? Even with the recent wintery mix of weather that shut down schools and businesses for a few days, it was locally owned businesses who suffered the most from being closed and from directives for us to stay off the roads.

The recent opening of Olive Garden also prompted some social media chatter about supporting Verona’s, a longtime locally owned Italian restaurant versus the new Italian kid on the block in Olive Garden. I would hope there are enough hungry mouths locally to support both – but more importantly, now having Olive Garden in Alexandria hopefully means you have one less reason to go “out of town” to eat and shop.

Loving the Locals and keeping that money circulating here in Central Louisiana is important for so many reasons.

1) Stimulates Local Economies: When you shop locally, more money stays right here in our community. For every $100.00 spent with a locally owned business, approximately $73.00 remains in the local economy. That compares to only $43.00 when spent at non-locally owned businesses. When you spend money at locally owned businesses, you also support local jobs and services – and in some cases, you are helping local suppliers who source products for our local businesses. 

2) Job Creation: Locally owned small businesses are also significant job creators. They account for 47.3% of the private workforce in the U.S. – and added another 1.8 million net new jobs in recent years. So, loving your local businesses contributes to job stability and growth in our community.

3) Tax Revenue: It may sound elementary, but local businesses are leading contributors to the local tax base, which funds essential services like public safety, roads and our local schools. A significant part of most Municipal budgets is attributed to the sales taxes you pay when you shop locally.

So “Loving the Locals” should be more than just a campaign the Chamber emphasizes or something you think about just during the holidays – especially for our locally owned small business owners, who are there for us year-round.