Think Local - Buy Local - Go Local

Our goal at GoLocalBG is to raise awareness of the importance of supporting locally owned businesses in South Central Kentucky. At a time when we may have fewer dollars to spend it just makes sense to do business where we perceive and receive the best value for our time and money. The home buying process is a perfect example of staying local.  From your REALTOR®, to your lender, insurance agent, all the way to inspectors, these should all involve local businesses. 

Click here to view our Go Local - Business Partner Directory

Economic studies show how shopping at local, independent businesses is not just a nice thing to do, it is also one of the best ways to strengthen and grow our economy. Data shows that through buying locally we create more jobs and retain more of the wealth of our community right here in South Central Kentucky where it belongs. A 2012 study by Civic Economics found that local retailers return an average of 52 percent of their revenue to the local economy, compared with just 16 percent for chain retailers. Similarly, local restaurants re-circulate an average of 79 percent of their revenue locally, compared to 30 percent for the chain eateries. A similar study conducted in Andersonville, Illinois shows that when you spend $100 at a local business 58% more money on average stays in the community compared to what would have happened if you spent that hundred dollars at a national chain store. The results of another study in West Michigan indicate that if people shopped just 10% more often at local businesses that it would keep an extra 53 million dollars in wages in their community and create over 1,600 new jobs. What would be the effect if we did the same here?

Top Ten Reasons to Go Local

  1. More Money Re-circulates In Our Local Economy

When you shop at locally owned, independent businesses more money is kept in the community because local businesses often purchase from other local businesses, service providers and farms. Buying locally helps grow other businesses as well as our region's tax base.

  1. Non Profits Receive Greater Support

Non-Profits often receive greater support from local business owners, sometimes as much as 350% more money, than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

  1. Keep Our Community Unique

Where we shop, where we eat and have fun — all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust

  1. Local Business Owners Invest In Our Community

Local businesses are owned by people who: Live in this community; are less likely to leave; and are more invested in the community's future. In turn, these local businesses in city and town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investments, add more to our tax base and make more efficient use of public services.

  1. Customer Service Is Often Better

Local businesses often hire people with more specific product expertise and they invest in their employees for better customer service - AND - a marketplace of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure customer services standards remain high, and that there is greater innovation and low prices over the long haul.

  1. Reduce Environmental Impact

Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

  1. Create More Good Jobs

Small local businesses are the largest employers nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents.

  1. Know Your Neighbor

Local businesses take the time to get to know you, you’re not just a number.  They take the time to know your family and your needs.  They know you, because you might be their neighbor.

  1. Buy What You Want, Not What Someone Wants You To Buy

A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

  1. Encourage Local Prosperity

A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

Think local first + Buy local when you can = Go Local!

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