On Friday, I spent a lovely day in a nearby town with my high-school girlfriends. We visited small shops and enjoyed a delicious lunch at a Mexican restaurant. It was a refreshing change from shopping online or at generic big box stores, and it reminded me of the wonderful benefits of shopping local.

In recent years, shopping has become very impersonal. We do more of our shopping online and when we do shop in person, we’re lucky to even get a hello from the cashier during checkout in most stores. Local businesses offer a friendlier and more pleasant shopping experience. Let’s look at some of the benefits of shopping local.

Benefits of Shopping Local

Support Neighbours and Local Residents

When was the last time you had a friendly chat with the cashier or store clerk at a large retailer or fast-food chain? I’m willing to bet it has been a long time because the workers are under so much pressure to get customers out the door quickly.

Small business owners, and usually the people they employ, are your neighbours. They live in your community and will usually take the time to chat with you and get to know you.

Find Unique Items

Is there anything worse than giving a gift and having the recipient receive two of the exact same item? Shopping local reduces the risk of that awkward moment when you realize someone else had the same brilliant idea as you.

I rarely spend time browsing in stores, but I could spend hours wandering around small local shops because they offer unique items that I can’t find elsewhere. And many of those items are handmade by local artisans.

Be Environmentally Friendly

Every time I drive on the highway, I see trucks from big box stores and online retail giants. Shipping products across the country and around the world generates a lot of emissions. It also creates unnecessary packaging waste. It all adds up.

Small businesses are more likely to make their own products or source products from local makers. And they often locate their stores in walkable shopping districts to make them easier to access by public transportation.

Keep More Money in Your Local Economy

A study in the Canadian province of British Columbia showed that $63 out of every $100 spent with a local business is recirculated back into the local economy. That’s because small business owners employ local people, support charities and events in the communities where they’re located, and often use local suppliers.

How do big box stores compare? When you shop at a multinational corporation, just $14 out of every $100 goes back into your local economy.

Reduce the Risk of Overbuying

When shopping online, how often have you added a couple of items you really didn’t want or need to save a few dollars on “free” shipping? I’ve done it. It’s just so tempting.

When you shop in person, you buy only what you need. Whether the item costs $5 or $500, you don’t feel pressured to buy more. And you don’t pay shipping costs.

Avoid the Stress of Waiting for Shipping

Here in Canada, our postal workers have been on strike for several weeks. With no end to the strike in sight, courier companies are stretched to the limit and can’t keep up with the increased demand. I worry people who didn’t plan ahead will be disappointed when their online purchases don’t arrive in time for Christmas.

Shopping local avoids all that stress. You bring your gift home with you, and they may even wrap it!

---

If you still have holiday shopping to do, consider supporting local businesses. If you’re already finished shopping for this year, make shopping local a priority for the new year.

Can you think of other reasons to shop local? Drop me a comment below with your thoughts.

Learn more about me in my bio and on my personal blog at BoomerEcoCrusader.com. You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.