November Issue: Shop Small

November 5, 2019

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Technological advances have allowed today’s shopper the ability to make instantaneous purchases with the swipe of a finger. With the ease of online shopping and the appeal of bonuses like free two-day shipping, we might easily forget the real value of shopping local. Those few bucks and time you might have saved, can be a lost opportunity to make a positive impact on your local community.

When you choose to shop local, you choose to invest in your community. Here’s how: The dollars you spend at a locally owned business are reinvested into the local economy. You help the environment by conserving energy and resources in the form of less fuel for transportation and less packaging, and you support local demand and drive up your community’s unique destination value, all by supporting the shop local, shop small experience.

Small business is big when it comes to numbers. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Oregon small businesses employed 823,658 people, or 55% of the private workforce in 2015. Small businesses created 35,384 net jobs in 2015. Firms employing fewer than 20 employees experienced the largest gains, adding 22,015 net jobs. The smallest gains were in firms employing 100 to 499 employees, which added 6,426 net jobs. By supporting small business you in fact help create more jobs in your community.

Customer care is top priority for small businesses, and the best way to show that is face-to-face. In a conversation with Richie Powell of all American Pet Supplies & Grooming, he told me of a customer who once came in to purchase a small amount of dog food to hold them over until their online order arrived. This got me asking, at the end of the day, was it convenient to buy online when they ended up needing to run to the store anyway?

Richie pointed out that if they had chosen to come in, he would have likely had the product on hand, and if he didn’t, gladly ordered it and sent them home with a free sample or discounted price on a smaller bag. In this instance, true to form, Richie gave the customer an additional free food sample with their purchase, and the customer was shocked by his generosity.

That’s the kind of experience you can only get from a local business owned by real people, families that live in the same community as you.

In this issue of The Bottom Line, our theme is Shop Small, in anticipation of Small Business Saturday coming up on November 30th. We have a great lineup of articles that feature some small business we recommend you visit, a special update from 5th street market, upcoming events, and more!

Inside the Issue