Take the Local Challenge...Spend 20% Locally This Christmas

This past Saturday was Small Business Saturday. I hope everyone took this opportunity to go out and shop with some of our local small businesses! If you forgot or didn’t have time with all of the Thanksgiving rush, there is still a lot of time left and it’s a great way to help your community.

When you purchase services or products from a local, small business you contribute to the Elizabethton and Carter County economy and make it stronger. Each time you make a purchase at a local, small business retail store approximately 48 cents of every dollar stays within our local economy compared to purchasing at a non-local, big box store where approximately 13 cents of every dollar stays within the local economy. That 48 cents can then be spent again locally by the retail store purchasing materials to make new products or making improvements to their building.

Additionally, when you decide to purchase products from any businesses in Elizabethton or Carter County you pay a small portion of your purchase in sales tax. The sales tax is used by your city and county government to pay for repaving roads, fire fighting services, police and sheriff services, and the school systems. By shopping with a local business, you also help keep that business alive and in turn that business pays property taxes which also help support the government services you rely on.

Lastly, when you make purchases with local, small businesses you help create a more stable and resilient local economy. Using the example in my first point, if you shop locally, and other businesses you spend your money with shop locally, and they purchase products from local businesses...well you get the idea. All of that money multiplies creating an internal economy that can be more resistant to impacts to the national or state economy. Asheville is an excellent example of this. During the Great Recession starting in 2008-2012, the Asheville, NC economy actually grew and expanded. Jobs were created, new construction was occurring while the rest of the state and nation slowed or declined. Asheville’s economy is strongly based on tourism and a buy local mentality.

This year, I’m challenging everyone in Elizabethton and Carter County to spend at least 20% of their holiday gift purchases with a local, small business -- that’s $200 if you spend $1,000 total or $100 if you spend $500 total. This could be a gift certificate to a local restaurant in Roan Mountain or a unique hand-made craft from a boutique store in Downtown Elizabethton. As you begin your shopping season, stop in and take a look at what some of our local, small businesses have to offer! You might be surprised to find just what you were looking for. Let’s talk about it!