Keep it Local in 2013!

WHY LOCAL FIRST?

1. Significantly more money re-circulates in your community when purchases are made at locally owned, rather than nationally owned, businesses: More money is kept in the community because locally owned businesses purchase from other local businesses, service providers and farms. Purchasing local helps grow other businesses as well as the city tax base.

2. Most new jobs are provided by local businesses: Small local businesses
are the largest employer nationally, and provide the most new jobs in our
community to residents.

3. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of our distinctive character: The unique businesses give personality to San Rafael. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust

4. Local business owners invest in community: Local businesses are
owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are
more invested in the community’s future.

5. Customer service is better: Local businesses often hire people with more
specific product expertise for better customer service.

6. Competition and diversity leads to more choices: 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.

7. Reduced 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. Public benefits far outweigh public costs: Local businesses in
town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make
more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores
entering the community.

9. Encourages investment in the community: 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.

10. Non-profits receive greater support: Non-profit organizations receive an average 350% greater support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

From San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Association (SFLOMA)

Submitted by Michelle and Jeff Leopold, Owners

            Marin Ace, San Rafael

            Standard 5&10 Ace, San Francisco

Founding members, SFLOMA

Proud members, San Rafael Chamber of Commerce