“Buy Local”—you see the decal in the store window, the common buzz words for most any independent business. A message of “let’s support local business”, a sense of community comradery. But buying close to home fosters more than a case of the “feel goods”.

When you purchase locally, you’re creating local jobs – and not just any jobs. While corporate outlets create mostly positions for clerks and cashiers, local businesses are hiring accountants, supporting community banks, and many other positions the chains (or online giants) centralize at their corporate headquarters. Local entrepreneurship provides a much more durable financial base than dependence on a few large corporations.

Most people overlook the fact that locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into your local economy. Spending locally instead of online ensures your sales taxes are reinvested where they belong. Another consideration is that a local, independent business requires comparatively less infrastructure and makes more efficient use of your public services.

Part of what makes any community great is how well it preserves its unique culture, foods, ecology, architecture, history, music, and art. Local businesses celebrate these features, while chains tend to homogenize, following a corporate template rather than respecting local customs.

Studies of voting behavior even suggest economically diverse communities have higher participation in local politics. The long-term relationships fostered by local business tend to enhance commitment to civic institutions like schools, churches, and charities that are essential to both local economic success and community cohesiveness.

Local economies are weakening not because too little cash comes in, but as a result of the outflow of that money. There’s one particular comparison where someone described, “Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going”, noting that when money is spent elsewhere—at a big box, non-locally owned pharmacy or restaurant or a pure on-line retailer—”it flows out, like a wound.” By shopping locally instead of the big box, consumers keep our community from becoming a “clone town”, where Main Street now looks like every other Main Street with the same fast-food and retail chains.

At Miller Hardware Company, our goal is to provide our customers with the best service. With access to over 35,000 products stocked in 64,000 square feet of warehouse space, we offer our customers the best service and value from a local, independent source. With strong relationships with hundreds of manufacturers and suppliers, if we fail to stock an item we can source it in a timely manner.