Study: Buy Local = 73% $$ Stays Local | Buy National Chain = 43% $$ Stays Local

It makes sense intuitively that when we buy from a locally owned store, that more money would stay in the local economy. Well, it turns out there is hard empirical evidence to support that intuition. A study commissioned by Michigan's Local First showed quite a contrast:

A 2008 study of Kent County by Civic Economics — commissioned by Local First — determined that just a 10% shift in consumer spending toward locally owned businesses would result in an estimated $140 million in new economic activity, 1,600 new jobs, and $50 million in new wages. 

According to Civic Economics, when West Michigan consumers choose a locally owned business over a non-local alternative, $73 of every $100 spent stays in the community. By contrast, only $43 of every $100 spent at a non-locally owned business remains in the community.

Click on the above chart to enlarge and see more detail.

Comments

[Keith]

Last night, I watched a documentary about a coal mining community in Kentucky. I heard them say, "If this coal mining industry is so profitable and job giving, why are we so poor??? We've been mining for decades." Their answer was that all the money goes to the far away corporations.

PS: I'm going to try and post a different pic on my link each time.

[Barbchamberlain]

Just the stats I needed when I wrote a post (http://bit.ly/bKy1Sk) back in September about the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies talk in Spokane.

[Bill Guerrant]

The money that leaves a local community this way, almost never comes back.
In our small town folks are cheering the arrival of an Olive Garden restuarant. I wonder if they consider what that means for our locally owned Italian restaurants, for example.

[M]

You might want to look at the chart you printed and compare it to your headline. Oopsie.