Harness your purchasing power to disrupt capitalist power structures!
Small Business Saturday is November 30th, and while I have some cynical views about corporate-giant AmEx starting a faux-holiday, I am all for shopping small and local!
With big-box stores changing our cultural landscapes (1, 2) and the high costs of e-commerce (4, 5, 6), where we are shopping feels equally as important as what we are shopping for!
When you shop with small and local businesses, your purchase gives back to the community– in more ways than one!
Often, small business owners are personally invested. We’re passionate about our product (especially when it’s made by hand!), and want you to have a positive experience as a customer. We build relationships, both with customers and fellow business-owners. We share referrals, we collaborate, we connect.
Additionally, small businesses are generative. Per Forbes:
…for every dollar spent at a locally-owned establishment, nearly 45% of that revenue stayed in the local community with another 9% being spent elsewhere in the state.
(7)
In contrast, for every dollar spent at a chain store, only 14% of the revenue stayed in the local community, mostly in the form of payroll. The balance of that money flows to out-of-state suppliers, or back to the parent corporation.
Moreover, when you seek out and support BIPOC/LGBTQ business owners, your dollars are directly shifting the paradigm. Capitalism has been bolstered by– and in turn, supports– white supremacy and the patriarchy. When we are able, then, to shift power to the marginalized, is it not a small act of resistance?
This year, skip the mall madness and spare a warehouse worker– SHOP SMALL!
