Shopping locally: Dollars spent in Charles City stay in Charles City

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

If someone can save a couple bucks by ordering an item online, why not do it?

According to Mark Wicks, the bottom line is, local businesses have a vested interest in knowing how to serve local customers. Shopping locally is not only better for the community, it’s better for you.

“Very simply, when you spend money locally, it stays local,” said Wicks, Charles City community development director. “The rule of thumb is, every dollar spent locally in the retail community will be turned over 3 to 5 times in that community.”

When more money is kept in the local economy, it ultimately helps create jobs for teachers, firefighters, police officers and many other essential professions.

“When we can keep jobs and dollars local, it helps the housing economy, it helps the tax situation and the city revenue,” added Christopher Hall, local Chamber of Commerce president and publisher of the Charles City Press.

“It is incredibly important that we keep dollars local, as they get reinvested in local jobs, local taxes and growing the community as a whole,” Hall said.

Wicks said that multiple studies have shown that corporate retail that comes into a community will ultimately take more money out of the community than it puts back into it.

“Local merchants pay taxes here. They pay for their building, they pay for utilities — they pay for everything that you do,” Wicks said. “They spend money in your community to do business in your community, thereby it’s really important that, if we want those businesses in our community, then we need to support them or they won’t be in our community.”

Both Wicks and Hall pointed out that local business owners know their customers, and their customers know them. Local businesses will also often carry a wid­er array of products because they buy for their own individual markets.

“They can offer you a customer experience, and immediate gratification,” Wicks said. “You get to touch it, you get to see how it looks on you, you get to feel it, you get to take it home, right then and there.”

More importantly, Wicks said, a local business offers personal service that an online business often can’t.

“If you have any issues, or you have questions, you have someone local,” he said. “If you buy it local, you’re buying it from somebody local who can help you. Any money you spend out of town does nothing for Charles City.”

Hall said that the personal service one can get by shopping locally is something online shopping cannot emulate.

“When I walk into a local boutique shop, they know what I’m going to order, they know my wife’s name — they know the flowers are for her,” Hall said. “It feels good when someone knows you by name, better than something showing up in a box at your door.”

Studies have shown that local businesses also contribute more money to community causes, and shopping in a local business district means less travel expense for customers and more money available for maintenance and infrastructure improvements in the community.

“We’re building a new law enforcement center with local dollars, we’ll have a new baseball park with local dollars,” Hall said. “We have a lot of growth going on because people have chosen to shop local.”

Wicks added that when a Charles City resident buys items from a Charles City retailer, it can become a part of a positive cycle. The purchase supports the employees at the business who also spend money in town — which supports other Charles City businesses.

“It’s really critical, when people want goods and services in the community, they’ve got to support what they have in order to get it,” Wicks said. “These retailers and service providers employ your family members, they employ your friends, they provide goods and services in the community. Without support, all that goes away.”

Charles City businesses tend to do a good job of promoting other businesses in town, which helps attract new neighbors, visitors and guests, Wicks said.

“That’s key, because people are more likely to come from out of town to shop here if they know they have more options,” he said. “It’s one for all and all for one. The more our businesses cross-promote each other and the attractions that bring people to town, the more exposure they all have to the great things we have here to offer.”

“Charles City is a great place to live, work and shop,” Hall added. “With more people supporting local businesses, it just breeds more business.”