Small child mannequins dressed with beautifully made clothes catch the eyes of local Newburyport citizens as they walk by Lively Kids located on State street in the downtown area of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Erin French, owner of the retail baby and childrens clothing boutique, is actively working on a Tuesday afternoon while greeting customers that stop by to see the adorable clothes and many other accessories hung on the wall. 

“This is a really fun safe place for families to come, develop relationships and build the community,” said French. “When you have kids and you’re a mom, your world changes. There’s so much love around buying a piece of clothing for a little kid that you love. I have an amazing staff and everyone loves to be here so we just share that joy with every customer that comes in.”  

Shopping local means you are buying from businesses that are owned by people in your community. There was a study done comparing where the money went from buying locally. What if we told you that, according  to Forbes News, “…for every dollar spent at a locally-owned establishment, nearly 45 percent  of that revenue stayed in the local community with another 9 percent being spent elsewhere in the state… for every dollar spent at a chain store, only 14 percent of the revenue stayed in the local community, mostly in the form of payroll. The balance of that money flows to out-of-state suppliers, or back to the parent corporation.”

When an individual shops locally, fewer products need to be shipped all around the world. This reduces the use of global resources and transportation, as well as benefiting the environment and many family owned businesses.  

“Being a florist we are a part of everyone’s celebrations in life, whether it’s a first communion, or a birthday or an anniversary or someone dies, we are a part of all that,” said Vivian Anastasia, owner of Anastasia’s flowers in Newbury.  “Whether it’s a happy or sad occasion we are involved in this community.” 

As you buy local shoppers are putting money back into your local economy rather than putting it into worldwide chains and national corporations. Putting money into businesses near you can help support your community in ways that often go unrecognized. Many will buy products without knowing where their money is even going.

“We appreciate the community.” said Rachel, the owner of The Fresh Fix located in Newburyport. “We give back, we try to donate to the schools and the city and keep the money local.”

Anyone and everyone can shop locally. When you buy local it not only is putting money back into your community and supporting small family owned business but it is reducing less waste in the environment, it lowers the emission of greenhouse gasses and promotes conservation of energy.

Shopping locally seems like a small thing to do for many but it has been proven how it benefits the community, humans, animals and even the nature that is in your backyard. Supporting the shop local movement is important to improve sustainability and the environment around you. 

“If we looked at the tags on our clothing it would say made in china, made in taiwan, made in the philippines and all of these places are on the other side of the world. There’s all sorts of energy that goes into making them but also think about all the energy that goes into shipping them.” Said Triton environmental teacher, Thomas Horsley. “They get put on these container ships that just guzzle fuel, pumping out CO2 and driving climate change as they sail around the world to bring us our amazon orders.” 

Giving money to local businesses is supporting your community and someone’s livelihood. For many, there is an emotional part of shopping locally. “One of my greatest achievements in life was the day I walked into Abe’s Bagels and they asked me, “do you want your usual” and I was like,  “I did it.” Said Horsley. Small businesses go the extra mile to support their customers, so their behavior should be reciprocated by their community.