’Tis the season for buying gifts. We can spend our money online, at national chains or at locally owned businesses. We decide based on myriad reasons—convenience, location, price, loyalty.

What would it take for us to make more purchases locally? What if we knew that more of each dollar we spend in our community stays in our community?

According to Maine Center for Economic Policy, every $100 spent at locally owned businesses generates, in general, an additional $58 in local impact. By comparison, $100 spent at a chain store generates $33 in local impact. And online purchases? Nada.

Have you seen a banner advertising an online store at the baseball diamond? Or at hole #9 during a golf tourney? Or on the thank you list a nonprofit publishes after their annual campaign? No. It’s our local businesses, businesses that every community needs, that support the nonprofits that make our communities rich. Amazon doesn’t support local author talks but Blue Hill Books, Bucksport’s BookStacks and Castine’s Compass Rose certainly do.

Keeping our purchases in town helps pay the wages of those working in town. These folks might have kids in the schools and maybe partners who work here, too. They eat meals out sometimes. And the businesses they work for buy local goods and services, too, perpetuating the cycle.

And if we have questions about something we purchased? It’s pretty easy to get a real person on the phone—or in person—at most of our small businesses.

Buying local, whether it’s meat and produce or a handcrafted cutting board or piece of pottery, might not always fit in the budget. But if we all made just a few more local purchases, we can help create that positive local impact, including helping to create more local jobs.

Paying in cash allows business owners immediate access to the money, without having to wait for processing. And there’s no processing fees for them to pay. It’s true some businesses appreciate that electronic payments can streamline the checkout process and help with accounting details when it’s tax time. If it’s all the same to us, the customer, we can just ask the owner their preference. Debit cards might be a happy medium—fees for them are usually less than for credit cards.

We might not be willing to give up our online shopping completely and a big box shopping spree might be necessary sometimes. But we can remember that spending our money within our local community helps our neighbors earn a living and keeps our money in the local economy.

Let’s have this season be the one we spend just a bit more here in town. A small increase can make a big difference to a small business.

Sarah Pebworth is on the steering committee for Word: the Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival and sits on the Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA advisory board and the Colloquy Downeast board. She served in the Maine House of Representatives 2018-22. She and her wife, Julie Jo Fehrle, live in Blue Hill.

Every $100 spent at locally owned businesses generates, in general, an additional $58 in local impact.

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