Shoppers in Lexington have likely spotted the green “I buy local!” stickers and signage around town over the past decade or so. The message and others like it are an awareness-raising campaign from Local First Lexington.
Founded in 2008, Local First Lexington was an alliance of independent, locally owned businesses and nonprofits that collectively sought to promote the benefits of supporting local organizations, as well as to support and learn from one another.
Although the group has dissolved as an official organization — its last meeting was in February 2020, just before the health crisis shut everything down — the impact of its 12-year run can still be felt and its mission lives on. Which is encouraging, because as the country and the city continues to recover from the pandemic, the importance of supporting local organizations has never more critical.
The United States saw 200,000 more businesses close in 2020 than would shutter in a typical year, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Board released in April. Of those closed businesses, 130,000, or about 65 percent, were independently owned. Not surprisingly, the smallest businesses — those with fewer than 5 employees — are the most susceptible and at the highest risk of closure, the report found.
While the figures are grim, additional research indicates that consumers are more willing to shop locally as the pandemic wanes.
In a survey conducted by Intuit in January, 82 percent of consumers said they would be willing to spend more money in order to sup- port local businesses. Seventy percent of those shoppers said they were supporting local businesses by shopping online only or in a mix of online and in-store shopping. And more than half of those responding to the 1,500-person survey said their main reason for shopping local was to keep their dollars in the community. Additionally, 38 percent said they shop local to support their community and local creators.
During the pandemic shut-downs, her business switched to curbside delivery — some- thing her customers embraced, Wade said. Buying from local businesses not only helps support owners and staff, Wade said, it also contributes to the character of a community. “Every town in America has a Walmart or a Target,” she said. “The one in Tallahassee is no different than the one in Anchorage ... it’s very homogeneous.
“The biggest thing about small businesses is if you don't support them, they go away. Supporting them not only keeps money in the community and keeps families afloat; it also preserve the uniqueness of your community.” —Robyn Wade
“The biggest thing about small businesses is if you don't support them, they go away. Supporting them not only keeps money in the community and keeps families afloat; it also preserve the uniqueness of your community.”
Small businesses also offer a different atmosphere than big-box stores, she said.
cdcentral_steve&dog
Steve Baron
“Small businesses offer more personalized, one-on-one experiences. You know the people who work there. And, as a business owner, you get to know your customers like they’re your family,” she said. Steve Baron, owner of CD Central, and the founding president of Local First Lexington, said the group has helped many local businesses.
“It certainly got people interested in shopping local,” he said. “I feel like it did help my business and help with the outreach to the community.”
Buying local, he said, not only helps keep money in the local community, but it’s better for the environment as well.
According to a Civics Economics Study by the think tank Common Future, for every $100 shoppers spend locally, $68 stays in the local economy. Only $43 stays in the local economy when people shop at nonlocal businesses.
Baron said it cuts down on waste, too.
“So much business has been shifted toward online because of COVID,” he said. “There’s so much waste in online shopping from the pack- aging alone; it’s not good for the environment.”
For Wade, one of the best parts about Local First was the networking and learning from other businesses.
“There were quarterly meetups, where businesses would get together and talk about what’s going on in their businesses and give each other advice,” she said. “When my business partner and I got into business, we had no business background. I feel like those were really helpful. I learned a lot of things that maybe would have taken me longer to learn without them.”
Local organizations such as the Kentucky Small Business Development Center at the University of Kentucky and Commerce Lexington offer business networking events, and neighborhood business associations such as the Southland Association — a group for individuals, organizations and businesses in the Southland neighborhood — can also help businesses to network and get the word out about shopping local, she said.
For Baron, the loss of Local First Lexington represents the end of an era, but he celebrates the positive impacts it had on businesses and the community and hopes that momentum can continue.
“It really did make a difference. Hopefully, we reached some people [about shopping local] and that’s always a positive thing,” he said. “I was proud to be a part of it.