WHY SHOP LOCAL FOR THE HOLIDAYS?
By Glynn Burrows
We all spend more money at this time of year, on food, drink, presents, clothes, shoes, etc., etc., etc., but if we spend wisely, we can help to keep our local economy going and retain those little “Ma & Pa” businesses we all love to see in our High Streets.
ON BIG BLEND RADIO: Glynn Burrows talks about the economic and community importance of shopping small and local businesses. Watch here in the YouTube player or download the episode on PodBean.
There is a well-known measure of how our different purchasing choices can have a massive effect on the local and national economy, and it is known as LM3.
LM3 measures how money entering the local economy goes around within it and how that then affects the economy.
Imagine the local economy is a bucket and money is the water in the bucket. Every time you spend money outside the local area, it is like a hole in the bucket and the money leaks out.
A lot of energy is focused on pouring more money into an area to keep filling up the bucket; however, a better starting point for strengthening the local economy is to try to prevent the money leaking out in the first place.
So, let’s look at the impact of our spending on the local economy using two examples:
Mary spends $500 over Christmas and uses an online shopping place to buy all her presents, she uses the local supermarket for all of her groceries and buys all her clothes, etc., from a national chain.
Mary spends $200 with the online shopping place and that platform takes her money, removes their percentage, and sends the rest to the seller. 100% of that $200 has gone out of the bucket.
Next, a trip to the local supermarket, where Mary buys her frozen turkey, plastic-wrapped vegetables, frozen desserts, and bottles of wine. 95% of that $150 has gone out of the bucket.
Mary now needs a new dress and shoes for Christmas Day, so she splashes out $150 on a posh frock and smart heels in her favourite department store. $140 drains out of the bucket, making a total of $482.50 has gone out of the local economy and the only contribution to her town is the $17.50 for shop worker’s wages.
Now let’s look at Fred. Fred hasn’t got the online bug, and he likes to talk to people, so he uses the High Street and local market for nearly all of his purchases.
Fred spends his $200 at “Molly’s Emporium” and “Ginny’s Gift Shop” and, even though some of the things he buys originate from overseas, as Molly and Ginny live in the town, buy some of their goods from local artisans and rent their shops from the Town Council, around 70% of that $200 stays in the local economy.
Fred loves his food, and he buys all his meat from George, who runs the local butchery. He gets his vegetables at the market and goes to the local Deli where they have desserts to die for. Fred doesn’t have wine for Christmas, he buys a crate of beer from the local brewery and returns the bottles to refill too. 100% of his food & drink spending stays in the bucket.
Even though Fred doesn’t need any new clothes or shoes, he buys two new pairs of trousers and three shirts from the discount shop and a new pair of Wellingtons from the hardware store. His clothes are his worst buys for the local economy as 80% of that money drains from the bucket.
Of Fred’s $500, $320 has stayed locally, to go around the bucket for a little while longer.
Mary’s spending pattern mostly keeps the big CEOs in their big houses and the only income staying in the area is the basic wages for the shop staff. Fred, on the other hand, keeps Molly, Ginny, and George’s businesses going for a little longer. It helps to pay their local suppliers, keeping their businesses going too. The market traders also have that bit more chance to stay in business and the deli can continue to bake those cakes. The brewery can carry on brewing and helping to save the planet by reusing their bottles.
If you spent just 10% of your Christmas spend with local businesses, you would be helping to keep your local economy going. If you encouraged your friends to do the same and even raised it to spend 50% of our Christmas spending with local independents, just imagine the difference we could make!
Let’s all be a bit more like Fred this year.
Glynn provides customized, private tours and also helps his clients trace their English family history. Past guests have visited and experienced stately houses and gardens, castles and churches, ruins and villages, birding and wildlife, World War II airfields, and general area taster tours too. Accommodations can be in all types of establishment, from character buildings such as windmills, thatched cottages and castles, self-catering or five star luxury – just say what you want and it can be arranged. Nothing is too much trouble for Glynn! Visit www.Norfolk-Tours.co.uk
