BY MIKE MCKENNA
One of the easiest and most enjoyable ways you can support our community is to simply shop local. Shopping local offers a wide variety of benefits that not only support our community and keep it thriving, but also benefit the shopper in a wide variety of ways.
As we welcome in the New Year, The Chamber hopes you make shopping local one of your top priorities for 2024! To help inspire you, here are the Top 10 Reasons to Shop in the Wood River Valley.
10) It Supports our Friends and Neighbors. Local businesses are owned by local people, so when you shop local you help members of our community survive and thrive.
9) It Shows You Care About our Community. Being compassionate and community-minded makes you look and feel better. As one local nonprofit staffer says, “Helping our community makes you a hottie!”
8) It Provides Better Customer Service. When you shop local you are dealing with real people who know their products and our place. You don’t have to wait on hold forever just to talk to someone in Nebraska who probably thinks “Powder Days” refer to specials at the donut shop.
7) It Allows You to Buy Locally-made Products. Sure, you can buy beer and crafts, jewelry, jams and gifts anywhere, but there are some things you can really only get here. Locally-made products help keep our unique style and character alive.
6) It Supports Nonprofits and Kids Programs. In case you didn’t notice, the banners at local sporting events and the prizes at fundraisers for places like The Papoose Club don’t come from big chain stores. They always come from our local shops, stores and restaurants. Shopping with them is an easy and fun way to say “Thanks for supporting our community!”
5) It Creates a Personal Connection. It’s not very easy to make a great connection with the cashier at Walmart or Costco or the A.I. service on some website. But when you shop local, the employees become familiar faces and, following the saying made famous by the old show, Cheers: “You wanna be where everybody knows your name.”
4) It Helps You Find Unique Offerings Catered to Our Place and Market. It’s tough to find a good pair of snowshoes at Target. Amazon is not an expert at winter gloves or what’s the best whiskey to make a hot toddy with. But our local stores always know just the right thing to get you through any Idaho adventure.
3) It Helps Local Businesses Invest Locally. Local businesses and nonprofits help create the look and vibe of our community. The more successful they are, the more they can do things like decorate for the holidays or keep their spots looking good.
2) It Keeps Money Local. Local sales tax (LOT) generates revenue that is used to do things like snow removal (when needed) and to put on events like the Fourth of July, Wagon Days and the Bellevue Labor Day Parade. Studies have also shown that for every $100 spent locally, 73% of it remains in the local economy.
1) It Creates Good Karma. Yes, sometimes things can be more expensive locally. But the bottom line is the few extra bucks you spend to shop locally have a huge and positive impact on our community. So it’s always a good idea to shop local and help support our community and your own karma!