Sunday, February 16, 2014

Shop Local: Support Indianapolis Small Business and Grow the Central Indiana Economy

by Lisa (Parrett) Treadwell

I'm a small business owner. You may be also. It's almost certain that someone in your family is.

Coming soon on this blog, I'll profile a number of Central Indiana small businesses. If you'd like to be included, email me here.

I wanted to share with you a couple of infographics that highlight why shopping locally in Indianapolis and Central Indiana is an important issue for our local communities. While shopping at a big box store - or spending money at national chains (like restaurants) - may be slightly cheaper or convenient, there is a definite cost to our local, Indiana economy.


And that cost then comes right back and hurts you - and me - in the form of less cash circulating in our local economy, fewer jobs, and many, many other areas.

The Shop Local movement continues to gain steam, and here's why: It's estimated that in most metropolitan areas in the U.S. - like Indianapolis - the act of consumers consciously shifting just 10% of their purchases from national chains to local businesses would generate an additional $200 million annually to local economies and grow an additional 1,300 to 1,600 new jobs in central Indiana. That's huge!

Click the Link to See a Large Version of the Graphic Below:



Those numbers are pretty crazy, right? And even if you doubt their accuracy somewhat, I think we all know this to be a common sense issue. 




I know there's no way that we all can - or maybe even should - shop locally ALL of the time. But making an effort to increase our local shopping can do nothing but benefit us all!