It’s so important to shop locally
By DANA DITTMAR
Last Friday officially rang in the Holiday Shopping Season. The Sunday paper was heavy with tons of sales flyers and inserts asking us to buy something for Dad’s work shop and a stunning piece of jewelry for the lady in your life. From now til Dec. 24, all we’ll do is shop, shop, shop.
But before you blindly follow the others to the mall, consider why it’s so important to shop locally.
First of all, local stores contribute to more local fundraising efforts and 501(c)3 organizations. Charity begins at home, right? All I have to do is put the word out that a local family needs some extra assistance for the holidays or someone else needs money for medical bills, and our local business people beat the chamber door down to give unselfishly. Let’s reward their dedication to the community, and patronize their businesses.
Also, local businesses provide a majority of the jobs and are crucial to job retention. The more jobs they provide, the more money is generated for taxes and the less strain is placed on assistance programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.
Local businesses support other local businesses. We all know that saying about all “boats rising together.” When we all patronize each other, it’s a win-win-win-win. It keeps our local economy chugging right along.
Sun City Center has a very unique lifestyle, and our local businesses reflect this unique culture. It’s part of what makes us Sun City Center. How many other towns do you know of that have four golf cart shops within walking distance of each other?
Just think about this: You hate paying taxes, right? Well, when you spend locally, all that sales tax goes towards supporting the community and county. It goes to fixing roads, maintaining recreational facilities, funding schools and building infrastructures.
I mean, really. Isn’t our community a whole lot more important than a cheap pair of sunglasses bought on the Internet? We all want a great deal, but not at the expense of our wonderful lifestyle.
Plus, shopping local reduces your carbon footprint. You save on gas when you don’t drive 25 miles to the mall or outlet stores. Besides, who wants to get out into all that horrendous traffic?
Local business owners invest in this community and have a vested interest in the future success of this community. If they fail, we all lose. This is their home, too.
Finally, every dollar spent locally is recirculated right here — on an average of seven times. Seven times. That’s a lot of recirculated cash. And it generates sales tax every time it’s recycled purchasing something else.
So see? It really is important to keep our dollars right here in South County. Go grab that cart and fill it to the brim. Just do it at Boggs Jewelers or the Shell Point Cottage or Fletcher Music Center or Bubbaque’s or … you get the idea.