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Doubters Corner

Doesn't Buying Local Cost More?

Not if you are a careful shopper. To begin with, so-called discount stores often sell goods of lower quality. A t-shirt costing $5 at a superstore that last six months is more expensive than a $7 shirt that lasts a year or more.

Local retailers also usually have more knowledgeable sales people to assure that you get just the items you need, rather than a lot of stuff you don't need.

Studies show that people end up spending far more than they intend to at mega-stores, and that only a small percentage of those purchases are actual discounts.

Large discount stores and online shopping comes with a whole lot of unrecognized costs. Taxpayers end up paying for the environmental and human damage done by transnational retailers who treat the earth and their employees badly.

The more you shop locally, the more you bring down costs for local business folks, and the more you send a message to global retailers that they need to clean up their act if they want your business.

introduction

Why Think Local First Pullman?

The goal of the Think Local First campaign in Pullman is simple: to increase the amount of support for locally owned businesses. Doing so helps the entire community.

Think Local First Pullman wants to help change your shopping habits by letting you know all the good reasons to shop locally (see our Top Ten reasons below), and by helping you locate local stores (see our directory of local shopping).

We use the phrase "think local first," rather than the more commanding "buy local!" because we are realistic enough to know that no town or city, let alone one as small as Pullman, has everything one could need. Think of TLF as a scale: try a local small business first, if they can't meet your needs, then try a Pullman-based national chain, or a Moscow independent business (we don't buy into the silly idea that Pullman and Moscow are at economic war).

Those of us behind this campaign, members of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development, have been practicing local buying for many years. And we can attest that there are a whole lot more goods and services available at a fair price in Pullman and surrounding areas than most people think. In fact, we have saved money buying locally because we purchased fewer things we didn't need, products that lasted longer, and saved money on gasoline and shipping.

Free Website Design for Any Local Business

Another way we want to help local businesses and help local customers find businesses is by offering to design free websites for any local business that wants one. If you are a local business owner who doesn't already have a website, just send an e-mail saying you'd like us to help you create a website, and we'll put you in touch with our design team.

Top Ten reasons to Think Local First

  1. Keep our community unique. Where we shop, where we eat and have fun -- all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. They are a large part of what brings people here and what keeps them here. Small businesses are more likely to reuse (and often restore) historic buildings (witness Market One Square). Pullman's greatest economic draw is our small town life; destroy that and every economic and social sector will suffer.
  2. Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.
  3. Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in Pullman's future. Economic studies suggests that a dollar spent in a local business circulates through a community at rate 3-5 times greater than a dollar spent on a mega-retailer that goes mostly to the home office somewhere else.
  4. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.
  5. Bring in more tax revenue and put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned mega-stores entering the community. They also contribute more proportionately to the tax base so that we can enjoy more parks, trails, and better upkeep of local amenities.
  6. Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally, and in Pullman they provide many of the best jobs.
  7. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
  8. Buy Local -- Support yourself: Numerous studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned business, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms -- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community
  9. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
  10. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.