Buying Local Is Good Economics

With the price of both gas and milk at roughly $4 a gallon and the consumer confidence index slumping month after month, with credit markets and job markets tightening and the stock in whiplash mode, ordinary people are looking for refuge. And once again we find our most reliable defenses against uncertain times are close at hand, right here in our hometown. Increasingly, communities are both achieving and building economies by making the most of local goods, services, and resources.

It is particularly important and useful in tough economic times to support local businesses. There is the obvious advantage of saving gas. Round trips to the big shopping malls around the state quickly burn up in gas whatever marginal discounts there are to be found in those distant places. This also drives local dollars out of the local economy, which has a direct impact on local jobs and wages. Local retail stores and professional services are run by entrepreneurs, not corporate middle managers. They adapt to and revitalize the existing infrastructure, making more efficient use of public services than big box stores and strip malls, preserving both the local character of a community and its prosperity. In a world where local commercial districts are increasingly cloned by absent corporate planners, distinctive one-of-a-kind businesses are beginning to stand out, drawing attention and dollars to the communities that support them.

A study conducted in 2004 in the Chicago area by Civic Economics, a strategic planning and research firm based in Austin and Chicago, found that every $100 spent with a local business leaves $68 in the local economy. That same $100 spent in a chain store in the same location left just $43 in the local economy. Similarly, every square foot of a local business produced a local economic impact of $179. The local impact of that same square foot in a chain store was $105.

Nowhere are the advantages of buying local more clear than in the farm economy. Most produce grown in the US is picked four to seven days before it appears on supermarket shelves, traveling on average 1,500 miles. With truckers paying $1,000 and more to fill up their rigs with diesel fuel, the economic consequences of making a salad in Connecticut with lettuce and tomatoes grown in California are now becoming painfully clear to consumers. This year, we expect Newtown’s local farm markets to draw more bargain hunters and food lovers than ever with the happy consequence of bring still more economic strength to our community.

It is during tough times that we find that true communities are more than just political subdivisions on a map. Communities are people, businesses, and institutions working together for the benefit of a specific place and its inhabitants. When people support each other, even in a relatively small place with a relatively small economy, they are better able to navigate the challenges presented by the larger world around them. In very certain ways in a very uncertain world, it pays us all to support Newtown’s local businesses.