These days, plenty of small business owners talk the talk: They hang “buy local” signs in their windows, they join buy local groups and they teach their customers to support small business. It’s all important work, but that’s only half of the equation. To truly make a difference in the small business community, local business leaders have to walk the walk by buying local themselves.
Earlier this year, Independent We Stand, the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) and Civic Economics released new data on the impact of business-to-business (B2B) purchases made locally. The “Home Sweet Home: Pros’ Edition” study revealed that a building contractor’s purchases would generate more than twice the local economic activity if made at independent retailers than at national chains. For context, the study reveals a total of $243 billion was spent on single-family residential construction in the private sector in 2016, requiring more than $133 billion in purchases of tangible goods.
