HOW TO GUIDE 2013

00

13

76

42

$ CASH FOR CLASS

Some exclusions apply see store for details.

Your Local One Stop Shop For The Entire Family

Envy Fine Clothing in Atwater SupportsLocal Schools & Organizations

Fundraiser Nights: Earn 15% of Sales!

Men, Women and Kids1648 Bell Lane • Atwater

Phone: 357.0000 • Fax: 357-0001envyclothes@aol.com

Envy wants you to... Shop Local to Support Our Local Law Enforcement,

Fire Fighters and Emergency Service Responders.With so many being victimized, it’s essential to

shop local and keep our community safe.

How to

ImportantPoints...

shoP local

Where we shop, where we eat, where we have fun – it all makes our community home.

The years following the advent of the In-ternet have come with endless ways to make life easier. In the time it takes to laboriously write a correspondence and send it, we can shoot off 10 emails and brew a cup of coffee. Today, you can buy a pair of shoes and 20 pounds of dog food all from one Web site, in less time than it takes to tie your sneakers. But more stuff in less time is not necessarily better.

A lot has been lost in this shift in con-sumerism. A community’s local flavor and diversity is embodied in its nearby business-es and locally sourced wares. The businesses in your community, from the real estate agent down the street to the coffee shop on the corner, build strong neighborhoods by sustaining community, linking neighbors and contributing more to central causes.

These businesses are a reflection of the people who live there and play a huge factor in overall lifestyle satisfaction and property values. The home in close proxim-ity to quaint shopping and food options is the home everyone wants to live in. Now replace those locally owned boutiques with a chain store or worse, a parking lot, and think of the inherent loss. Shops with a local stake are also more likely to cater to the specific needs of a community, spending more time to get to know the people who live there and taking special interest in their needs.

When you take this homegrown flavor away, quality of life changes in ways that are slow and difficult to measure, and therefore are mostly ignored completely. So step away from your laptop and learn a couple of easy ways to keep strengthening your community, one latte at a time.

Keep your cash localAccording to the350project.net, for every

$100 spent in independently owned stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stay in the community. Spend it online, and there’s absolutely no return on investment. Except for that cute pair of oxfords that was just delivered.

More money is kept in the community when you shop locally owned rather than nationally owned because locally owned shops tend to purchase from other local businesses. Big box retailers are definitely getting their merchandise shipped in from all over, namely from China and Mexico. The more you keep business condensed to one place, the more the community flourishes financially. The bottom line is, to keep those unique businesses you love open, you have to support them with your dollars.

It’s often thought that opening big box stores offer towns and cities economic growth and tax revenues, but further inves-tigation suggests otherwise. Big retailers actually offer fewer jobs and increased infrastructure demands. Some studies show that instead of creating new revenue, big box stores simply shift dollars away from locally owned businesses, sometimes as much as 84 percent of sales.

Shopping locally also lets you get to know where your money is going. Get to know the people or the families that run the shops in your area. You’ll feel better about buying when you know whose pockets you’re filling – big business or your neighbors?

It goes without saying that buying a book at a local bookshop is better than click-ing “buy now” on your computer screen. Shopping locally creates jobs and support entrepreneurs. The more you support them, the more they can broaden their range of products and services to hire even more people.

Environmental impactChoosing local may mean choosing green-

er. Many products sold at locally owned establishments are also sourced locally. Less shipping miles means less carbon, pollution and traffic congestion on the highways.

Smaller specialty shops are generally located in clusters, providing a centralized area where people are encouraged to walk and peruse, rather than drive several miles out of the way to malls and big box stores. This can mean less sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution. Frequent the café in walking distance to your house, rather than taking a trip to the chain store drive-through.

It’s not realistic to say you’ll never go to the mall again, but studies show that even a 15 percent shift in buying habits can make a huge different. Maybe choose one day a week to run all your errands at once to cut down on time and gas money. Better yet, ride your bike to the local farmers market to get a workout and support the local food economy. Your pocket book and your body will thank you for it.

Get local, get happyAn ever-growing body of economic

research shows that in increasingly homog-enized communities, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle where their unique businesses and character will be preserved.

Independent, local businesses tend to employ a wide range of supporting services, hiring resident contractors, artists, designers, accountants and more, as opposed to out-sourcing or hiring from within. That means more jobs for community members and local producers.

Shopping this way may seem more expensive at first, but a marketplace of small businesses is the best way to promote innovation and low prices over time. Many businesses that select products based on their own interests and the needs of the local consumer guarantee a broader range of product choices so you have a greater variety to choose from.

• Everything Counts. Even if you’re on a budget, try to support at least one local busi-ness a week. This could be something as small as buying a cookie from the bakery down the street.

• Keep Workers Happy. locally owned business are known for hiring people with specific product knowledge for a better customer service ex-perience. People who are more invested in their jobs tend to be happier overall.

• Get Valued. local business-es have a much higher stake in treating you right. They depend on referrals and customer loy-alty, so it’s in their best interest to keep you happy.

• Invest in Your Commu-nity. When you buy local, the chances that those dollars are recycled back in to the com-munity are huge. That means more money given back to charities, schools, parks and libraries.

• Encourage Growth. Rather than contracting out to other large companies, locally run businesses often support other local establishments. That’s called spreading the wealth – literally!

It goes without saying that buying a

book at a local bookshop is better than clicking

“buy now” on your computer screen.

HOW TO GUIDE 2013