Merchants hope �Buy Local� campaign will perk up sales in city

 Kim Raff/The News & Advance

Inez Lewis arranges flowers in Doyle�s Florist on Friday in Lynchburg. Doyle�s Florist is part of the Retail Merchants Association of Lynchburg�s �Buy Local� campaign to encourage people to spend more money locally.

Why Local?  Here's ten good reasons.
http://www.livingeconomies.org/aboutus/get-involved/why-local

Significantly more money re-circulates in your community when you buy from locally owned, rather than nationally owned, businesses:
More money stays in the community because locally owned businesses purchase from other local businesses, service providers, and farms.  Purchasing locally helps grow other businesses as well as your community's tax base.

Local businesses provide most new jobs:
Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally, and in most communities provide the most new jobs to residents.

One-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of a community's distinctive character: The unique character of any town or region is what people love about it, and what tourists come to visit.  Richard Moe, president of the National Historic Preservation Trust, says, "When people go on vacation they generally seek our destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace."

Local business owners invest in community: 
People who own local businesses live in the community, as less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community's future.

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

Competition and diversity lead 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 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.

Local businesses have less environmental impact:
Locally owned businesses can make more locall 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.

Local businesses' public benefits far outweigh their 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.

Local business encourages investment in the community:
A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneus and skilled workers are more likely to invest in and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

Local businesses give more support to non-profits:
Non-profit organizations receive an average 350 percent greater support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.