Money spent in Lincoln County, stays in Lincoln County
Shop local.
You hear it every time you talk to a business owner in Lincoln County. They beat the message into your head with such frequency that it becomes easy to tune out, sort of like background noise. But it’s an important message, one that carries even more weight during the holiday shopping season.
Shop local.
You know it’s the right thing to do. Money spent here stays here. Local businesses provide local jobs. They contribute big bucks to community events and to local nonprofit organizations. And when local business owners turn a profit, they spend it at other local businesses and continue the buy-local cycle.
Shop local.
Nowhere is shopping local more important than in Lincoln County, which is tied for the highest level of unemployment in Montana. We need jobs. We need an economic boost. But, until the mines reopen or the logging industry reawakens, we have an obligation to sustain our communities by buying local as often as possible.
It’s not easy to do.
Big-box retailers collectively spend billions of dollars every year to make Black Friday a de facto holiday. They lure us through their doors with low-price guarantees and the convenience of one-stop shopping.They even convince us to camp in their parking lots to get the season’s hottest gift items.
For many people in Lincoln County, that means driving to Kalispell or Sandpoint to find the nearest shopping mall, Walmart or Best Buy. But it also means a good portion of our holiday shopping money will line the pockets of people who have no connection to our communities, no stake in our success and no shared responsibility to make Lincoln County a better place to live.
When you buy something from Home Depot, the profits get routed to Atlanta. When you buy something from Walmart, the profits are shipped off to Bentonville, Ark. When you buy something from Best Buy, the profits are funneled to Minneapolis.
On the other hand, buying something in Libby or Troy usually means your money stays here.
Is it more expensive? Sure, it can be. But spending a few extra bucks for items on your shopping list is an investment in your friends, neighbors and family. When business owners make more money, they hire more employees, pay higher salaries, expand their inventory and improve their storefronts.
Not convinced yet? Take a look at a few statistics.
A study conducted in Salt Lake City earlier this year showed local retailers return 52 percent of their revenue to the local economy, compared to just 14 percent for the national-chain retailers. Similarly, local restaurants recirculate an average of 79 percent of their revenue locally, compared to 30 percent for chain restaurants.
A separate study revealed nonprofit organizations receive on average 250 percent more support from small businesses than they do from large businesses.
It’s easy to overlook statistics and studies. But it’s impossible to ignore the facts when you run your own business. You see how it works firsthand, and the statistics set in as reality.
One local restaurant owner handed out a flier recently that summed up the shop-local concept. It said: When you buy from a mom-and-pop business, you are not helping a CEO buy a third vacation home. You are helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a mom or dad put food on the table, a family pay a mortgage or a student pay for college.
The bottom line is that customers are the shareholders in all local businesses. When a business on Mineral Avenue shuts down, all of Libby loses. When a business expands to a larger location, that’s a good sign for all of us.
So, shop local this holiday season. It might be a tad more expensive. It might be somewhat inconvenient. But it’s definitely the best thing you can do for the local economy.