This Saturday, Nov. 26, has been designated as “Shop Small Saturday.” Started by American Express in 2010, this event is held every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The intent is to encourage holiday shoppers to visit and purchase from small retailers that day. We have all seen the memes on Facebook that state “When you buy from a big box store, you are helping a CEO buy a third vacation home. When you buy from a local business, you are helping the owner’s daughter get dance lessons.” But why is this important?

Have you seen the movie “Demolition Man?” Set in a dystopian future, one business — Taco Bell — has taken over all retail and restaurant functions for society. Can you imagine a world in which one business has taken over all retail and restaurant functions? Without competition, our choices would be limited, quality would suffer and prices would be standardized, probably higher than they would be in a competitive market. A bleak retail outlook for sure.

But, you could argue, big box businesses are important to our local economies, too — after all, they hire and pay local employees and pay either rent or property taxes. Without a doubt, that is true. But here’s the thing they don’t contribute that local businesses do: they don’t spend their profits locally. They pay the bare minimum to participate in the local community. They often don’t participate in other aspects of the community either, such as supporting charitable endeavors or local schools.

Besides hiring and paying local employees, and paying rent or property taxes, local businesses tend to spend profits locally. Local business owners contribute as consumers to the local economy, paying a personal home mortgage or rent, buying cars, appliances, groceries, etc. In addition, they support local charities, local schools and other local businesses and business organizations.

According to the American Independent Business Alliance, 48 percent of each purchase at local independent businesses is recirculated locally; this compares to 14 percent of purchases made at chain stores. That number decreases to 1 percent of all purchases made on remote online stores — provided the driver that delivered your items lives locally. Just let that sink in for a moment.

You could argue that prices are more attractive at the big box stores. Certainly, on some items that could be true. Someone that buys a million widgets per year is probably getting a better price on those widgets than someone that buys a hundred each year. But, is price the ONLY consideration when you purchase something? Does quality matter? Does uniqueness count?

As someone that manages a local business that counts on local support for its success, I may be somewhat predisposed to spending my dollars locally.

I realize it may not be practical to think everyone can spend every dollar locally every day. However, every little bit helps our friends, our neighbors, the businesses that support and live in our community. I encourage you to think hard where you invest your holiday shopping dollars this year and if you have a chance to help a little girl get dance lessons, please take it.

Michelle Lester is the publisher of The Times Record, and can be reached at [email protected].