This year, Small Business Saturday will be very important to our local economy in Erie. As damaging tariffs drive up domestic prices and the looming cessation of SNAP benefits reduces the purchasing power of everyday people, it has almost become our duty to our neighbors to ensure as much of our money remains within the local economy as possible. Luckily, data shows this can easily be done. Approximately 67 to 68 cents of every dollar spent at a small business stays within our local community. This money is recirculated through local wages, purchases from other local suppliers, and the owner’s reinvestment, creating a significant positive ripple effect in the local economy.
It starts with direct spending, which is the initial purchase of a good or service from a locally owned small business. When you spend money at a small business, a large portion stays local through wages and other local operating costs. Next comes a round of indirect spending, which is the money spent by the small business itself on local suppliers that creates a secondary round of spending within the community. This multiplier effect means that for every dollar spent at a small business, an additional amount is generated in local economic activity. That boost in the local economic ecosystem means our neighbors see the benefit more quickly and more impactfully.
By comparison, studies show that for every dollar spent at a large chain store, only about 43 cents remains in the local community. The remaining percentage of each dollar that is left on the table when buying from a large corporation may be spent on any number of things. In the case of Walmart, it might be spent on their political action committee, Walmart Inc PAC, which favored conservative candidates in the 2023-24 election cycle. In Target’s case, that amount may go toward funding vehemently anti-LGBTQIA+ political candidates like 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who is now the Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives. Emmer received $150,000 in support from Target Corp. That portion of your dollar may be used to empower large corporations to fight environmental regulations and continue to ravage our natural resources, lobby for favorable tax cuts for the super-rich, and generally perpetuate the downward spiral toward the economic ruin of the working class in favor of the ultra-wealthy, widening the wealth gap in an already historically inequitable American economy. The point is: it is much easier to know where your money is going if you choose to support local businesses…