“Shop locally” is the phrase on the broken record yuppies and young people will not take off of their turntable.  Most people in America have, at some time or another, been told to invest in small businesses.  Events like Small Business Saturday have been taking place for years, and many have readily accepted the unique experience of shopping at a store that does not belong to a chain.  However, small businesses are still closing at an alarming rate.  While some people may be able to live life only shopping at places like Walmart and Target, consumers should not be willing to accept norms pressured on to the public by huge corporations.  Many look to local businesses to provide new jobs for the unemployed, but in order to keep these businesses open and ensure commerce stays in the hands of many hard workers instead of a few wealthy people, extra effort must be made to shop locally.

While it may seem like only one or two local businesses close every year, those couple stores here and there add up to an incredibly large number of businesses having to close because they do not have the profits chain megastores have.  According to an article by Eric T. Wagner for Forbes, eight out of ten small businesses close within the first 18 months that they are open.  The article cites reasons like poor leadership and a lack of uniqueness, which gives buyers no motivation to shop there instead of Walmart.  However, is shopping at a megastore any more unique than the dullest small business?  Independent stores definitely have less of a selection than megastores, but their collection is curated, and offers a more involved shopping experience, whereas every Walmart has the same products as the one down the road.  If someone wants a book, they should go to Sammy’s Books.  If they want a CD, they should go to Joe’s Crunchy Tunes.  The shopping experience one gets at a specific local business is rare because it is shared only with the people who have gone to that exact store, not everyone across the country who has stepped inside of a Walmart.  Instead of giving all of their money to one huge company, the profits are spread to multiple store owners who the customers most likely know personally and, being small business owners themselves, the store owners are likely to also shop locally.  Money goes back to the grassroots.  In 2013, Walmart took in $4.4 billion, much of which going to the already incredibly wealthy Walton family.  Meanwhile, small businesses with no employees other than the owner made only $44,000, and people are expecting these businesses to be the ones creating paying jobs.  The way things are now, that simply cannot be done.  It would make sense to buy something from people who actually need the money to pay for necessities in their own lives and the lives of potential employees instead of those who are sitting comfortably, overseeing underpaid workers.

Shopping locally is something that everyone has heard about, but not enough people actually do.  In order for small businesses to provide the jobs the public wants them to, people must make the effort to put their money there instead of shopping at a large chain store.  Many subscribe to the not-in-my-backyard school of logic, where they agree that it is a good idea and preach about its benefits, but still make the trek to Walmart whenever something is needed because it’s a quick shopping stop that will allow them more time to find a different cause to advocate.