HOW LOCAL BUSINESSES MAKE YOUR TOWN MORE VALUABLE

When people spend money at a local business, most of them know exactly what they are doing. They are not just buying a cup of coffee or hiring a contractor. They are making a choice about the kind of place they want to live in.

83% of Americans agree that shopping local strengthens their community. ¹ When asked why they shop local, 43% say it is to support their local economy and community, and 45% say it is to support local jobs and business owners. ¹ People want to invest in their community.

Money stays and multiplies

When a dollar is spent at a local business, most of it stays in the community. Research commissioned by American Express found that 67 cents of every dollar spent at a small business stays local, compared with just 43 cents at a chain store. ² That gap compounds quickly. Local owners pay local wages, buy from local vendors, pay rent to local landlords, and donate to local causes. Every dollar recirculates. Every purchase builds something.

When money leaves town, it is gone. When it stays, it grows.

Local businesses literally make your neighborhood more valuable

Research suggests that neighborhoods with thriving independent businesses can see home values outperform their broader cities by as much as 50%. ³ Local businesses attract foot traffic, signal neighborhood health, and make streets feel worth being on. They turn a block into a destination.

Small businesses that invest in underdeveloped or neglected areas often trigger broader revitalization. Their presence draws more businesses, more residents, and more investment, creating a cycle that benefits everyone in the community, not just the people who shop there.

A local brewery supporting a town

Russian River Brewing Company was founded in 1997 in Santa Rosa, California. When Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo took over in 2003, they built it into something the craft beer world had never quite seen before, a brewery defined not by scale, but by restraint and community.

Their beer, Pliny the Younger, a triple IPA released just once a year, became the proof of that philosophy. Most breweries with a hit product scale up production immediately. Russian River did the opposite. They kept Pliny the Younger in small batches, available exclusively at their Santa Rosa and Windsor taprooms for just two weeks every February. If you want to try it, you must show up.

Every year, thousands of beer lovers travel from across the world to stand in line in Sonoma County. The two-week release brings over $6 million into the local economy, in what would otherwise be a quiet month. ⁴

That is one brewery, one beer, two weeks. The impact of staying local, staying small, and staying intentional rippling across an entire region.

The anti/corporate point of view

People want to support local businesses because they improve their community. When they choose the neighborhood coffee shop over the drive-through chain or hire the local contractor instead of the national service, they are not just buying something; they are participating in something.

Local businesses are how communities build wealth, create identity, and take care of their own. anti/corporate exists to help those businesses thrive, because when they do, everyone wins.

Sources

¹ anti/corporate pro local. 2026; online survey, n=1,100 U.S. adults
² American Express Small Business Economic Impact Study, 2018
³ Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Independent Business Studies
⁴ Russian River Brewing Company; Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, CA