By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Months in the making, this week Local First released the results of Local Works! a new study measuring the economic impact locally owned businesses have on West Michigan.
Civic Economics, a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas, and Chicago, Ill., compared local and national chain businesses in four lines of goods: pharmacies, grocery stores, full-service restaurants and banks.
The study indicates that if Kent County consumers were to make a modest 10 percent shift in their spending habits — spending 10 percent at locally owned businesses they would otherwise have spent at non-local firms — the result would be a $53 million increase in payroll and the creation of 1,600 jobs. That would increase Kent County employment by one-half of one percent. And the output for Kent County could increase some $137 million, which would be spread among a variety of industries.
According to the study:
“The magnitude of these impacts is such that, under ordinary circumstances, economic development organizations and public agencies would rally to the cause, actively recruiting and incentivizing any firm promising such an impact. As it happens, consumers can themselves create these impacts with only a modest shift in their habits and behavior.” Local Works! Executive Summary, pg. 7
“We as consumers can choose to shop at local grocers, farmers markets and shoe stores,” says Elissa Sangalli Hillary, executive director of Local First. “We can make a difference in Kent County. By shopping locally we could create incentives for local businesses to hire more employees.”
Local First is creating educational programs to help consumers understand how buying locally impacts their community. A launch date has not been set.
Source: Local Works! and Elissa Sangalli Hillary, Local First; Civic Economics
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media and a member of Local First. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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