Small Business Saturday, Nov. 26, encourages shopping locally for the holidays. The United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce provides marketing materials for their members to promote the benefits of shopping locally.
Small Business Saturday is Nov. 26 this year, spearheaded in Corpus Christi by the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy,” said Gilda Ramirez, vice president for small business and education for the chamber. “They have a lot to offer. We can buy more from local merchants and help our local economy.”
Since 2010, Small Business Saturday has grown in popularity, resulting in 95 million shoppers all spending their money in locally owned and operated stores in 2015. American Express provided marketing materials from signs to shopping bags for local chambers to hand out to their small-business members. The Corpus Christi chamber is in the process of setting up its promotions for the big day.
“We have all the materials on a first-come, first-served basis,” said Ramirez, an avid local shopper. “As we all start to shop for the holidays, let’s keep some of those shopping dollars here with some of our businesses.”
The reasons to shop small are plenty BIG, according to Ramirez and the American Independent Business Alliance (AmIBA).
Each dollar spent at independent businesses returns three times more money to the local economy than one dollar spent at a chain, according to information at AmIBA.net. The return is almost 50 times more than when buying from an online mega-retailer.
“That’s a benefit we can bank on,” Ramirez said.
That multiplier effect occurs because independent, locally owned businesses re-circulate a bigger percentage of revenue into the local community than businesses with absentee owners, according to the findings of private research firm Civil Economics. The firm’s study showed that, on average, 48 percent of each purchase at local, independent businesses was recirculated locally compared to less than 14 percent of purchases at chain stores.
A similar study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance looked at how much of a dollar spent at a local, independent store is re-spent locally as payroll, goods and services purchased from local companies and donations made to local charities. The research company found that each $100 spent at local independents generated $45 of secondary local spending compared to $14 for a big-box chain.
For restaurants, they found that locally owned, independent restaurants return twice as much to the local economy than chain restaurants per dollar of revenue.
“Restaurant gift cards are a great Christmas present,” Ramirez said.
Shopping online brings almost no local benefits other than a few minutes work for a delivery person.
“It’s really nice buying local. You know you’re going to find items not everybody has,” Ramirez said. “And you won’t be in massive crowds either.”
Ramirez plans to promote a scavenger hunt-style shopping competition with prizes for Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26. Any chamber member wishing to be included in the day-long shopping event may email Ramirez at the chamber at gilda@unitedcorpuschristichamber.com.
