When one walks into some small businesses, they may be put off by the higher price tags on products. The fact is that most small business cannot always compete with the cut throat prices that big box stores consistently offer. Both big and small businesses play an important role in our current economy, but we should not completely abandon our small businesses.
While it is easy to see how the small savings in big box stores can save us short-term, when we look at the bigger picture it becomes clear it will financially and culturally cost us and our communities in the long-run. Here are some reasons you should shop at small businesses.
The Infrastructure
When big box stores are built they are frequently only required to put forth a little bit of the money to help state’s establish the traffic patterns that is needed to support very high traffic that is involved in big box stores. The community is forced to support and maintains the sewer, roads, fire and cops for these large stores.
The cost of maintaining infrastructure for big box stores has been shown to cost 30% more than maintaining downtown store areas. This means that the little money we might save from getting a product five dollars cheaper may just be spent on our raised taxes.
The Employees
While big box stores do gainfully hire many citizens of local communities, they also spend revenue on employing CEOs and other higher ups, who probably do not live in our community. Money that leaves our local economies to support far off CEO’s does not get infiltrated back into our local economy.
With small businesses, majority of the time the boss and worker live and are taxed in your community. What they earn, they give back. This means the money that you pay to support these individuals is put right back into your community.
The Quality of Product
While big box stores offer a large variety of items, they do not offer that wide a variety of options for individual products. This means you are forced to choose from a list of products they have pre-selected. These pre-selected items are not always chosen because of their top notch quality either.
In a small business that specializes in only a small niche of products you will have a wider variety to choose from. Also, the business owner probably personally selected them due to their quality. You can directly discuss with them which product will work best for you.
Look for Deals in Small Business Stores
Small businesses recently have gotten a lot of attention from the media and local communities. We want to keep this business. Frequently, community will have small business days where the prices are cut. This is when you can get great deals while supporting your local economy.
You can also try searching for holiday sales at local businesses. Try going to a small business on Black Friday or right after Christmas to get some great seasonal deals.
