Buy Local?

[freedomweasel]

What are economic reasons to buy from local stores? Does it actually help the local economy more? Do large chains pay different taxes than local places? I'd seriously like to know, because everyone around here loves buying local just for the sake of buying local.

Take as an example someone buying Red vs Blue 2, the new FPS game from either local bob, or the national chain.
In both cases it seems that both places would order the game from the same location, and hire the same local kid to sell the game to me. Both places are businesses which exist to make the owners and employees money. What's the difference?
Is the national store full of jerks who don't know anything? What if the local place is too?

Why not support "buying where you get the best service/experience, and don't look down on people who shop where they like"?

I shop at Target, not Wal-Mart, but not because I have delusions that they are a better business, but because the space between shelves is wider, and the stores near me are cleaner. If there was a local place that provided the same or better experience, I'd go there instead of Target because the experience, not because it's local. There's a local sandwich shop down the street I love, why? Because they make the best damn sandwiches in town, if that place happened to be a national chain the only thing that would change would be my ability to get said sandwich at more locations. There is also a local sub place, I don't go there anymore, because Subway is down the street and charges less for a sub that tastes better.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

The only places I really buy local are two corner shops and a chip shop...

Because damn it when I'm at college I want a can of coke with chicken and chips for lunch!

Plus they make the best chicken and chips nearby...

 

[Blind Sight]

Why not support "buying where you get the best service/experience, and don't look down on people who shop where they like"?

This makes sense, it's just communalist nonsense, people like to think that their local community's businesses are somehow superior to big-box stores and feel they are helping their local economy by buying local. I'd much rather have what you said, the best service for the lowest price. But I've never been a fan of communal benefits, I'm too much of an individualist.

 

[PeePantz]

I tend to buy things from a local business unless a big company/corporation will provide me with better service. I have no problem with giving my money to a smart business that understands what their clientele are looking for.

 

[freedomweasel]

big chains if they are smart pay no taxes im not fucking with you many large companies pay little to no taxes at all, and never do.

the main reason to buy local is the profits stay more local, say you buy from a local chain the owner gets the profits, who lives in your town and spends money in your town generating more money for... your town, its economic multiplication, buy from a national chain it goes to the stock holders and executives, who probly dont live where you do and wont buy where you do.

That makes sense, I really was curious if there were "legitimate" reasons to buy local things. Even with that though, there are few local shops here that will give me the time of day, or the products are priced so much higher, that it just isn't worth it to me.

As an anecdote, there is local bar in town that has a huge selection of beer, quite good. My friends all love it and go fairly regularly. I however go less often and have a horrendous time getting service because the bartenders *heavily* favor the regulars. My friends admit this, you don't get served unless you are with a group of regulars.
This attitude is present in many of the local places in my town, clothing stores, coffee shops, etc. Why should I support that?

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

You can't afford to go local all the time when you're a student. It's usually much more expensive.

And Subway is god.

 

[freedomweasel]

big chains if they are smart pay no taxes im not fucking with you many large companies pay little to no taxes at all, and never do.

the main reason to buy local is the profits stay more local, say you buy from a local chain the owner gets the profits, who lives in your town and spends money in your town generating more money for... your town, its economic multiplication, buy from a national chain it goes to the stock holders and executives, who probly dont live where you do and wont buy where you do.

That makes sense, I really was curious if there were "legitimate" reasons to buy local things. Even with that though, there are few local shops here that will give me the time of day, or the products are priced so much higher, that it just isn't worth it to me.

As an anecdote, there is local bar in town that has a huge selection of beer, quite good. My friends all love it and go fairly regularly. I however go less often and have a horrendous time getting service because the bartenders *heavily* favor the regulars. My friends admit this, you don't get served unless you are with a group of regulars.
This attitude is present in many of the local places in my town, clothing stores, coffee shops, etc. Why should I support that?

become a regular? see they support them because they are guaranteed source of income while you may not be. I am not stating if buy local is good or not, Hell buy America is the exact same argument and EXACT same counter arguments. Its basicly do you belive the arguments or not is all that matters.

I know a bar in my town that heavily focuses on new people brought in by regulers, cause that usually means they are local just never been there before, and not so much on people just travailing through maybe. I dont know cause dont know why someone who isnt local would go to a bar in my town when there are lot better bars 20 miles away.

I can understand supporting regular customers. I used to go to a coffee shop every day when I was in school, the guy behind the counter practically knew my class schedule, and would give me refills and let me get coffee and pay him back if I forgot cash. That was awesome. However, he still served the random people who came in. The bar I'm talking about, I have literally (yes, literally) stood at the bar cash actually in my hand, for 10 minutes waiting for service. The bartenders engage in smalltalk with the regular customers, which is fine and good, but they do this to a fault. I have no desire to pay to be treated poorly. I'm not sure how one would become a regular aside from a masochistic streak.

Isn't the Buy America argument a little different though? I can see a little more reasoning behind wanting to buy a USA Tshirt vs a China Tshirt. Buy local is often buying the same China Tshirt from a highschool kid with a different uniform.

 

[The Axon Hillock]

I buy local whenever possible. I'd always prefer to give my money to another person struggling in my cities shitty economy than a large, faceless corporation that has no doubt engaged in practices I disagree with on a moral level.

A large part of the economy used to be based in small business, and the trend towards departmentalizing everything leads to fewer jobs and lower wages. I've seen an area that had a local interesting, thriving community that was full of artistic exploration, very personal service, tattoo shops, galleries, used game and video stores, good eats, and whatever you care to name. Something awful and corporate moved into a big complex to replace everything in function, beating them out in price. I had been working at a little hardware store for almost five years at that point. It's how I paid off my car insurance and my expensive game pre-orders, etc. The business had been going straight, family owned, since 1927. EIGHTY FUCKMOTHERING YEARS.

A Lowes moved in down the street, and we knew we were done. After about three months of struggling, getting rejected by people with your very attitude, and firing people left and right, we closed down. Eighty years, and we closed down because of proximity to a Lowes. We ALL lost our jobs. They couldn't even pay my last paycheck.

And do you know where I ended up working? Fucking Lowes. They were the only place that would hire me. My pay was awful (but, hey, you can't get to be the second largest grossing company in the world BY BEING FAIR, CAN YOU?). At the Hardware we used to attack costumers at the door, eager to see what needed fixing. That's a trademark of small business. You go into a Lowes right now and tell me how long it take you to get someone to help you, and whether they seem like they want to help, or if their is something dead in their eyes.

Most of my local friends lost their jobs and ended up at Wal-Mart, one even missing out on surgery she badly needed because of the change in pay grade. It took me deciding to go to college to get over how fucked up it all was.

Buying cheap and convenient? Sounds like a good deal to me! But the reality is that this attitude is messing up a lot of lives, and my case is NOT unique. Ignorance begets ignorance. It also begets placation, and that is a dangerous way to let the more powerful among us FUCK US IN THE ASS.