This holiday season, support your neighbors and Bloomington by shopping at local stores

Posted by Admin December 20, 2024 Shopping

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Andrea de la Rosa
| It’s Your Business

With the holidays in full swing, many of us are scrambling to finish shopping for friends, family and coworkers. The magic of phone-to-porch shopping and third-party food delivery has made our lives convenient. However, this convenience has its drawbacks. Namely, the dollars we spend this way leave our community.

As the city’s chief champion of small business, I see firsthand how important it is to support local businesses, especially in a challenging economy. The current reality of inflated grocery and housing costs limits disposable income for holiday shopping, making it even more challenging to resist the ease and low cost of Amazon delivery.

We spend our hard-earned dollars carefully. With rising living costs, every dollar counts more than ever, so spending those dollars locally is important. When we do, we get higher quality products and services and contribute to the well-being of our community in tangible ways. Small businesses are more likely to donate time and money to the local community and to source their supplies locally (like Bloomingfoods Positive Change campaigns, for example). According to Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, as of 2022, 534,640 small businesses were operating in Indiana. Eighty percent of Chamber of Commerce members in Bloomington are classified as small businesses.

The Shop Small Movement gave way to Small Business Saturday, an addendum to Black Friday, and recurring local events like Food Truck Friday, Gallery Walk, Handmade Market and others also have contributed to this vibrancy. These events encourage residents to engage with local businesses, fostering a sense of pride in our community and local culture. And let’s not forget about our nearly undefeated Indiana University football team with eight home games this season, which brought lots of opportunities to celebrate, socialize and spend locally.

Small businesses directly benefit from our patronage: businesses owned, operated and worked in by our friends and neighbors. Each dollar spent locally helps create jobs, sustain the livelihoods of hardworking individuals and strengthen the overall fabric of Bloomington. By supporting these businesses, we experience what makes this city unique, and we play an active role in shaping its future. This support fuels the local economy in ways big box stores and Amazon simply can’t replicate. Each visit and purchase is an investment in the spirit of our community.

Andrea de la Rosa is the city of Bloomington’s assistant director for small business development. She is originally from Lebanon, Indiana, and graduated from Indiana University.