Why Supporting Local Businesses Can Save Your Local Community

There has long been a cold war between “Mom and Pop” stores and “Big Businesses.” It’s even a recurring theme in the movies.

You know how it goes… A large corporation buys up all the local businesses / homes / community gardens / orphanages / etc. using brute force and government corruption to put up a gigantic mall / high rise / temple of evil / etc. The locals then have to band together (often having to overcome petty squabbles and backstabbing first), and make a heroic effort to save the community. You know, for the kids.

In these movies, the good guys always triumph one way or another. However, one Disney/Pixar animation fast-forwards to a time when the effects of the Big Business have become plain. Wall-E shows a world in the year 2105 where all businesses have been consolidated under the megacorporation, “Buy ‘n’ Large (BnL)”, leaving the Earth a wasteland where a cockroach is the only living thing left. Solely dependent on BnL, the human population has evacuated on the company’s spaceship where their culture of consumption continues and they evolve to be completely unable to stand up.

While we hope that such a scenario is a long way off, today’s business environment isn’t ideal either. The economic nosedive of 2008 hit small businesses much harder than big corporations. Many towns saw the exact scenario described earlier, but without the happy endings. Local businesses were forced to close shop and big businesses came in force to fill the vacuum. Maybe worst of all, people who suddenly had much tighter budgets thought they’d go and get the cheaper stuff being sold by the large corporations.

Unfortunately, there’s always a tradeoff, and the higher costs we pay aren’t obvious. Large chain stores and fast foods are able to drop prices because they cut corners on everything. Labor is located in the states that have the lowest minimum wage. Even the staff they hire locally have substandard wages and working conditions.

As an example, a study by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce released last year showed that each underpaid Wal-Mart employee could be costing taxpayers $5,815 each year. That means a single Wal-Mart branch with 300 employees would suck $1,744,590 in taxpayer money every year. This cost goes to the social services that the study showed the average Wal-Mart employee needs because of the low wages. These services include food stamps, subsidies, and other government aid.

Not to mention there has long been the debate that such chain stores go as far as having their products made in other countries. This is said to not only take jobs away from the local communities back home, but also encourage the slave shop conditions some other countries are known for. There have been reports that many of these have rampant human rights violations, child labor, poor health conditions, and even high suicide rates.

On the other side of things, it is no exaggeration that small, local businesses are the lifeblood of the U.S. economy and each local community. Small businesses employ about half of the U.S. workforce and create roughly 65% of all new jobs. More and more small businesses are also in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $15 or more, because it levels the playing field with big businesses that save on labor but spend on trucking and other logistics. Usually materials, labor, and ingredients will be as local and sustainable as possible. There’s also the bonus that small businesses are far more able to go out of their way and truly build bonds with and serve their local communities.

There’s a popular meme that goes, “When you buy from a Mom and Pop business, you are not helping a CEO buy a third vacation home. You are helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a mom or dad put food on the table, a family pay a mortgage, or a student pay for college.”

At Great Lakes Trophies & Engraving, we know all about serving the local community. We produce only top quality products using local materials and labor. Since 1995, we have been part of the memories made over the years by the Garden City, MI and surrounding communities. Call us today at 734-266-1815 and let us know what we can do for you and your loved ones.

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