New Study Comparing Local Businesses vs Chain Stores

Posted by on October 24, 2003

[posted from Sustainable Business Network newsletter]

New Study Comparing Local Businesses vs Chain Stores

Three times as much money stays in the local economy when you buy goods and services from locally owned businesses compared to chain stores, according to an analysis by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Friends of Midcoast Maine.

The survey found that the businesses spent 44.6 percent of their revenue within the surrounding two counties. Another 8.7 percent was spent elsewhere in the state of Maine. The four largest components of this local spending were: wages and benefits paid to local employees; goods and services purchased from other local businesses; profits that accrued to local owners; and taxes paid to local and state government.

The analysis found that the chain returns just 14.1 percent of its revenue to the local economy, mostly in the form of payroll. The rest leaves the state, flowing to out-of-state suppliers or back to corporate headquarters.

For more info, go to the full report “The Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses vs. Chains: A Case Study in Midcoast Maine”
http://home-town-advantage.c.tclk.net/maabt4Zaa0K8Qa577nMb/

A study earlier this year in Austin, Texas, reached similar conclusions:
http://home-town-advantage.c.tclk.net/maabt4Zaa0K8Sa577nMb/

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