Shopping at your town’s locally owned stores is something that just isn’t done by many people today, at least not on a regular basis. We, as Americans, like to go to our huge chain stores, where we can find everything we need, with one stop shopping and what appears to be lower prices. But what is this really doing for our community, and how are we really helping out our locally owned businesses?

Local businesses are crucial to the survival of our economy. On average, local businesses give back to their community 80% of each dollar, fueling growth and connectivity. They also employ about half of all our nation’s workers. Not only that, local businesses give more to the national economy than the big chain stores do, simply by way of the “trickle down effect.” When we shop locally, most of that money comes back to the community, which then trickles up to the national providers. Therefore, if we want our local and national environment to thrive, shopping locally is the way to go.

There is a program out there, called the 3/50 project, (check it out at www.the350project.net) that is all about supporting our local businesses. Plain and simple, it says that if we start spending more money at our own brick and mortar stores, good things will happen.  RTownShopper does it’s own part to support the local mom and pop shops we all love. RTownShopper deals in what they call discount gift certificates. The local business gives these to RTownShopper to sell. This in itself is what the local business is charged for being on RTownShopper’s site. They work with the age old system of barter. No actual money ever exchanges hands between RTownShopper and the local business. When RTownShopper sells these gift certificates, which are at least 50% cheaper than average coupons, this  brings in new clients, as well as revenue, to the store. RTownShopper also lets you print these gift certificates, instead of mailing them, which adds the incentive of efficiency to shopping local. Check out RTownShopper’s site to learn more about them.

So the next time you are looking for a good restaurants, retail stores, or hotels remember to support your community, and to always check out www.rtownshopper.com, because going local is the best way to go.