Choosing to do your holiday shopping at small, local businesses instead of major retail stores is far more ethical and will help make your community a better place.
As a small business owner myself I can say it’s not just about money, but about being able to share my passion with people around me. In my experience as both a seller and customer, shopping small is a win-win situation.
Big corporations are definitely cheap to shop from because of their global outsourcing for cheaper labor, but this often comes at the expense of the employees who are significantly underpaid for the amount of work they are asked to do.
A Business Insider article talks about recent strikes held on Black Friday by a group of Amazon workers and other activists called ‘Make Amazon Pay’. Their goal is to hold the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos accountable for his unethical labor practices.
“The pandemic has exposed how Amazon places profits ahead of workers, society, and our planet,” Make Amazon Pay activists claimed in the article. “Amazon takes too much and gives back too little.”
When you support small businesses, you can be rest assured that your money isn’t going towards any unfair corporate practices.
Better yet, when you support local businesses, most of your money stays within the community. This is because local business owners use a large portion of their revenue to pay for other local goods and services, ultimately generating a more prosperous community.
“Studies show that if you spend $100 at a local business, roughly $68 stays within your local economy,” the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce wrote in an article. “It’s a chain reaction that serves the entire community.”
Local business owners also pay local taxes which can benefit your own community by improving its schools, roads, parks and much more. Contrarily, big corporations are notorious for not paying income taxes, serving no financial help to society whatsoever.
“55 of America’s largest companies paid no income taxes over the three-year period from 2018-2020,” an article from Investopedia claimed. “Many even received tax rebates adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars.”
When you shop from small businesses, you are guaranteed that the taxes you spend on that purchase will be used to make your community a better place instead of being hoarded by a big corporation.
Small businesses also provide excellent and personalized customer service that you won’t get when shopping with major retail stores. Small business owners can be genuinely good people who take the time to talk to you sincerely.
Another reason to do your holiday shopping with small businesses is because many of them need support now more than ever as a result of the pandemic.
Small businesses were forced to temporarily close in 2020 and many didn’t get the chance to re-open their doors at all.
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) says that the pandemic particularly impacts small business owners in the food service and entertainment sectors. 75% of these small businesses claimed to have “laid off employees, decreased employee hours, or suffered revenue losses since mid-April (2020),” PPIC wrote.
Still, many people are hesitant to shop at small businesses because they’re under the impression that they’ll go over budget. This is not always true.
There are tons of small businesses that are affordable and offer deals that big box stores do not.
If something does seem like it’s overpriced compared to popular chain stores, then there is a good reason for that, as it reflects the product has been fairly traded, handmade or the business pays its employees fairly.
You can make a big difference in your community by ditching the major retail stores and shopping small this holiday season. Small businesses wouldn’t exist without our support, so it’s crucial that we lend them a helping hand to make sure they stay here.