'Shop Locally' Takes on New Importance

Only 24 days from today, and it will be Christmas. Retailers, both large and small, look on the holiday shopping season as the four- to five-week period that will either make or break the year for them.

This year, in the midst of what is likely a global recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades, the concept of shopping locally takes on added importance. And we’re not just talking about the locally owned businesses, but also national companies that have a presence in Central Virginia.

The Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, in the early days of the fall when the financial crisis exploded onto the scene, immediately recognized the danger lurking for local businesses. The organization began aggressively marketing the area’s holiday offerings early on in an effort to help buffer local businesses as much as possible during what will likely be a bleak shopping season.

The advantages to keeping your retail dollars in the local community should be apparent to all.

The state returns a portion of the sales tax revenue generated locally to the local governments for the primary purpose of supporting public schools. Meals and lodging tax revenue pays for a variety of local government initiatives including tourism marketing, which increases out-of-town awareness of the attractions of the region.

Spending your dollars at locally owned establishments is the best of all possibilities. When you buy that digital camera or sportcoat at a shop owned by your neighbor or friend down the street, virtually all of your money stays within the local economy. Having your company’s holiday dinner at a locally owned restaurant keeps your dollars in your own backyard in addition to preserving a bit of what makes the area unique. Shopping in locally owned businesses also pays the salaries of folks in Central Virginia, in addition to generating tax revenues that likely will remain in the regional economy.

Just check out the businesses in downtown Lynchburg, Bedford, Altavista, Appomattox and Amherst, and you’ll come across shops you won’t find anywhere in the country. One of the true gems of Central Virginia is lower Main Street in downtown Lynchburg. Anchored by the Lynchburg Community Market, the area is home to several dozen fascinating businesses, all locally owned and operated. And don’t take our word alone, just spend this coming Saturday morning roaming the area; you’ll be bowled over by what’s there.

Still, in this dicey economy, shopping locally at national businesses has great rewards. Local jobs are created. Local tax revenue is generated. Every nook and cranny of the regional economy benefits. Why travel down the road to Roanoke, Richmond or, worse, out of state, when your dollars can do so much for so many right here in Central Virginia?

This holiday shopping season is likely going to be dire for many businesses, and there likely will be some — locally and nationally — that won’t make it. To say that the coming new year is going to be a “challenge” is to put it mildly.

We’re just now beginning to see the economic data from the last couple of months, as the global fiscal crisis was exploding, and it’s painting a scary picture. No one is really certain how it will all play out, how severe a recession the world and the nation will undergo or what the political and economic landscape a year from now will be like.

For now, we can only brace ourselves and do what we can to look after own little corner of the world.