Small Business Saturday may have come and gone, but the importance of supporting our neighborhood shops, makers and service providers hasn’t faded with the weekend sales. If anything, this is the moment when shopping locally matters most.
After the rush of Thanksgiving weekend, many small businesses settle into the reality of the holiday season—one that can make or break their year. Every purchase at a local store, every meal at a family-owned restaurant, every gift bought from a hometown artisan keeps dollars circulating close to home.
It helps employers keep staff on the payroll, supports the nonprofits they donate to and strengthens the character and charm that make our communities the places we’re proud to call home.
Big-box stores and online giants will do just fine without another sale. But the businesses that sponsor our kids’ sports teams, donate raffle prizes, host community events and greet us by name count on steady support long after the calendar moves past that post-Thanksgiving Saturday.
Across the nation, small and locally owned businesses account for roughly 99% of all businesses in America. Together, small businesses — including retailers, restaurants, artisans and service providers—employ nearly half of the country’s private-sector workforce and contribute about half of the U.S. GDP.
According to data tracking local spending, of every $100 spent at a local store, approximately $68 remains in the local economy.
By contrast, that same $100 spent at a chain store or large national retailer keeps far less—often less than half as much— circulating locally.
Economists call this phenomenon the “local multiplier effect.”
Because local shops are more likely to use local suppliers, hire local workers, bank locally and donate locally, money spent locally tends to recirculate through the community multiple times—creating extra jobs, sustaining other small businesses and supporting community programs.
When you buy from a local retailer or eat at a neighborhood restaurant, your dollar doesn’t just buy a product—it becomes wages for a neighbor, rent for a town building, supplies for another local artisan and perhaps even support for local nonprofits.
Over time, that adds up: strong, self-sustaining local economies tend to have more stable jobs, better community services and a more vibrant civic life.
Meanwhile, dollars spent at large chains or online often flow out of the community—to distant corporate headquarters, out-of-town suppliers or global distribution networks. Over time, that pattern can hollow out local economic vitality and erode what makes our community unique.
Where you choose to spend—whether at a national online retailer or at a shop just down the street—matters. As a community, even small, repeated decisions add up.
If each of us commits to redirecting even a portion of our holiday spending to local businesses, we can help ensure those small shops, local artisans and locally owned restaurants stay afloat.
That matters not just for holiday gifts or convenience—but for job stability, for local tax revenue that supports schools and public services, for residents working and living here and for keeping our community’s character alive.
So as you check off your holiday lists in the coming weeks, consider starting small and staying local.
Your choices today help ensure the heart of our community continues to beat strong tomorrow.
