Shopping local and keeping dollars locally is always important, but with the ongoing challenges businesses are facing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more important.
Local shops and businesses are the fabric of our community. They are among the first organizations to support our schools, sports teams, local charities and beyond. The dollars that are spent locally do get invested back into our community through the hiring of local services, eating in local cafes/restaurants and coming together to support local events and initiatives. Local businesses are the employers for our friends, our neighbours and many in our community.
Did you know that approximately 98 per cent of businesses in B.C. are small businesses? When we choose to shop local, we are often choosing to support that 98 per cent of our province and our economy.
Local businesses are invested in our community more than just financially. Local business owners are volunteers, philanthropists and support systems for many in the community.
“Personally, I choose to support local businesses because I know that the purchases I make in those businesses have the power to change everything,” said Ladner Business Association president Jill McKnight. “During COVID those purchases have the opportunity to change someone's day completely. It could help them to pay rent, it could allow them to invest in additional training for the employees or it could be part of helping the business grow in a completely new direction.”
Shopping local has never been easier. Many local businesses have branched out into online platforms that allow you to purchase online and pick up curbside or local stories will offer delivery services. Local businesses are often willing and able to assist you over the phone to complete your purchase or walk you through your first online shopping experience. As our shopping experiences have changed, so too have the local businesses in their ways of working with you - they will find creative ways to make the shopping experience perfect for you.
“Over the past months, it has been encouraging to see our community fully embrace the spirit of shopping locally,” said Tsawwassen Business Improvement Association executive director Michelle Barlow. “Every time you spend your dollars in a local small business you contribute to their recovery and the recovery of our local economy. Local businesses recirculate $63 of every $100 back into our local economy (Source: LocoBC). Shopping locally has a positive effect not only on our economy but on our community as a whole. It strengthens the connections in our community making it stronger and more resilient. I think the sentiment of “Buy Local or Bye-Bye Local” is a reality for many communities but if we all try to think “local” first then the many great shops and services in Sunny Tsawwassen will remain strong and vibrant.”
Some recent survey statistics show that the past year has been a challenging one for businesses in our community.
According to Garry Shearer, executive director of the Delta Chamber of Commerce, a recent survey conducted from Dec. 3 to 18 of area business members:
- 72 per cent of businesses saw a decrease in sales in 2020 with 62 per cent seeing their sales drop 25 per cent or more.
- 51 per cent of businesses report their operating costs have increased, likely due to the costs associated with new restrictions.
- 22 per cent of businesses report they will close within six months given the current restrictions, government support and operating costs.
- 73 per cent of businesses are using some form of a government support program to assist them through COVID-19, this is up from 65 per cent in July.
“But there is some optimism for the next 12 months based on the rollout of the vaccine,” he said. “Thirty-six per cent of our members who responded are very optimistic about the next 12 months and 22 per cent plan to hire more local and 63 per cent of our members responded that they have adopted new online marketing tools and strengthened their e-commerce capabilities.”
Shopping local means different things to each person. It could mean shopping within Ladner, or South Delta or Delta altogether.
It could also mean supporting a company from the Lower Mainland, or from B.C. as a whole, or on the world scale it could mean supporting Canadian made products.
The opportunity in front of each of us is to allow a pause when making our purchasing decisions - asking ourselves, how will my purchase today, pay it forward to my greater community.
