Lets Give the Little Guy A Chance by Bill Faber A community wins big when it has lots of men and women who run their own businesses. Home grown business owners connect to the community and care about it. Owners take leadership roles in local government and civic affairs. A recent study by the firm Civic Economics showed that locally owned businesses generate 70% more economic impact per square foot than chain stores. The study looked at ten locally owned restaurants, retail shops and services in a Chicago neighborhood, then compared them to ten national chains competing in the same business. Spending $100 at a locally owned store created $73 in additional economic activity. In comparison spending $100 at a chain store created only $43 worth of local impact. Locally owned businesses spend twice as much in buying goods and services in the local area than chains do. Chains look to central headquarters for management and financial services. But local businesses hire local support services, plus they give more to local charities than chains do. In another study Penn State’s Center for Economic and Community Development concluded that when chains come into a neighborhood they displace locally owned businesses. Towns that gained Wal-Mart stores during the 1990’s fared worse in terms of family poverty rates than those towns without Wal-Marts. Wal-Mart says that its stores benefit the working poor by providing low prices. But ten years worth of data shows that Wal-Mart stores may actually hinder a community’s ability to move families out of poverty. Our community will win big if we double the number of business owners. Decatur, Forsyth and Mt. Zion must work together to encourage small business ownership, and then protect the new businesses from the chain stores and big box stores. How ? No more big box stores. Set economic impact criteria for new chains. Sales tax projection serves as a false measure because it does not tell the full story. Our community has lots of laid-off workers who are ready to work hard. They will make great business owners.Thanks for listening. Bill Faber is a Decatur lawyer with 20 years experience trying cases to juries of the people. He welcomes your comments at 425-9002; www.wmfaberlaw.com |
