{"id":2771,"date":"2016-12-09T14:30:05","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T19:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/?p=2771"},"modified":"2024-02-13T11:51:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T16:51:23","slug":"five-reasons-to-shop-local-this-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/blog\/five-reasons-to-shop-local-this-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Reasons to Shop Local This Holiday Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the average Canadian spending over $1,500<\/a> during the holiday season, it\u2019s evident that there\u2019s a huge opportunity for small businesses to capture consumers sales. But in a study<\/a> by BMO last year, a disappointing 49% of consumers planned to shop at big box stores. Shopping locally, however, can bring so many benefits to not only those you\u2019re shopping for, but the city and community you live in. Here are just five reasons you should convince people this holiday season to shop at your local business.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re supporting the local economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By shopping locally, consumers are supporting their own (local) economy. When you shop at big box chains, that money isn\u2019t staying within your own community. In fact, one study <\/a>\u00a0found that for every $100 spent at a local business, $68 remained in the city, however, when that money was spent at a chain, only $43 remained in the city. Consumers should want to shop at places where they know they\u2019re giving back to the place they live.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find unique gifts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When consumers purchase a gift at a local business, they are likely to have a more unique gift then one they would purchase at a chain store. Likely they want to give their loved ones gifts that they won\u2019t find anywhere else. Often times too, these gifts can have unique stories attached to them\u2014from the people that made them, or the place it came from\u2014which makes them even more meaningful.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re creating jobs <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Small businesses employed 7.7 million people<\/a> across the country in 2012. By shopping local this holiday season, shoppers can provide the business that these small businesses need to survive and thrive. Their money is going directly into helping employ those within your community.<\/p>\n

You are building a vibrant community <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Shopping local helps build and keep a vibrancy in your community. Imagine what your town or city would be like if your favourite little restaurant, yoga studio, or trendy coffee shop didn\u2019t exist? Small businesses add to the culture and give a personality to the city, making your city more colourful, and making it a place that you enjoy living.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re supporting the next generation <\/strong><\/h3>\n

The next generation needs to be inspired by the small businesses and success stories today. With each thriving small business or successful entrepreneur they hear about or see, entrepreneurship is becoming more attractive to them. We want the next generation to look at entrepreneurship as a viable career option, and it\u2019s this generation that will help them see that.<\/p>\n

Shopping locally brings forth so many benefits to a community. When consumers opt to make a purchase at a small business, their purchase means so much more than a great gift for their friends or family; it means that they care about building and shaping their city. This year, encourage consumers to be more conscious of where they are putting their money by educating them on some of the benefits of shopping local. Futurpreneur\u2019s Holiday Shopping Guide <\/a>can help with inspiration of Canadian entrepreneurs and their businesses.<\/p>\n

Written By: Lauren Marinigh, Social Media & Content Creation Specialist, Futurpreneur Canada<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the average Canadian spending over $1,500 during the holiday season, it\u2019s evident that there\u2019s a huge opportunity for small businesses to capture consumers sales. But in a study by BMO last year, a disappointing 49% of consumers planned to shop at big box stores. Shopping locally, however, can bring so many benefits to not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}