Here's why YOU should buy locally!
Feel stuck in capitalism? Like one person can't move the needle? Spoiler alert—you can! You might need items but you can choose where your money goes, you choose who your dollar empowers. The magic really happens when you choose to shop small. Let's walk through six bite-sized reasons why buying local is multiplier of good.
1. $73 of Every $100 You Spend Locally Stays Local 💸
An MSU paper "Why Buy Local?" found analyzing the Grand Rapids economy that shopping at independent businesses keeps about 73 ¢ of every dollar swirling around your hometown—paying neighbors’ wages, funding city services through taxes, and sparking new storefronts.
National chains? Only 43 ¢ sticks around. National chains & large corporations don't have a vested interest in the community like local businesses.
Not to mention, shopping at local small businesses you're bound to find much more unique cooler items. You won't find our candles on Amazon or at Target.
2. Local Shops Are 4× More Likely to Give Back 🎁
That same MSU paper discussed hometown businesses donate quadruple the amount large retailers do, relative to sales. It's crazy what you can do when you aren't required to send your money to wealthy shareholders.
People tend to invest in the community the live in and organizations that help what they care about. While big businesses dump pollution to save a buck. Locally businesses actually care what their community looks like and how its members are doing.
3. Chain Stores Funnel Profits to Distant Shareholders 🏦
Publicly traded giants are obligated to maximize shareholder returns—often at the expense of local reinvestment. Translation: cash exits your zip code faster than you can say “overnight shipping.” Not exactly the neighborhood-building vibe we’re after.
In fact, there is a landmark Michigan Supreme Court decision in Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. in which they held the company had to operate in the interest of its shareholders and is a landmark court case for shareholder primacy.
Making this issue worse, big corporations use stock buybacks in order to enrich these shareholders further. A move that up until 1982 was considered stock manipulation.
Furthermore, the Harvard Business Review states that the top 465 companies in the S&P 500 spent " $4.3 trillion on buybacks, equal to 52% of net income, and another $3.3 trillion on dividends, an additional 39% of net income" between 2009 and 2018.
This $7.3 trillion is not being invested into the community, into growing business, or to protect businesses in times of economic downturn. In fact, in addition to their income a lot of the stock buybacks are financed through debt. Making these companies more fragile in order to enrich shareholders and executives who get most of their compensation through stock-options.
With the Republicans 2018 corporate tax rate cuts, corporations were able to take their additional profit and use that to increase stock buybacks further. Increasing the government deficit significantly, taking the burden of debt used to increase their stock prices off of the companies and onto the American taxpayers instead (Harvard Business Review).
4. Local Businesses Re-Invest in the Community 🤝
Independents buy supplies from other independents—think graphic-designers, print shops, and nearby farms. Like us, our beeswax comes from a local orchard in Michigan.
Local businesses live and hire people who live in the community, shopping in local stores, paying local taxes. The result is a vibrant, resilient web of small enterprises that weather economic storms better together.
Studies call this the Local Multiplier Effect; we call it common sense. Money spent locally circulates, while chain stores and corporations extract and send the money elsewhere.
5. You Hold Serious Purchasing Power 💪
Remember: every purchase is a portable protest sign. When residents in Montgomery refused to ride segregated buses in 1955, revenue plunged and the Supreme Court struck down Jim Crow transit laws —proof that dimes and quarters can dismantle injustice.
Three decades later, shoppers across the globe boycotted South-African fruit, wine, even cigarettes; imports fell by 35 %, helping push the apartheid regime to the negotiating table.
Fast-forward: more than 1,000 brands from Patagonia to Ben & Jerry’s paused Facebook ads during the #StopHateForProfit campaign, forcing Meta to add civil-rights leadership at the C-suite level. Your bank card is basically a policy lever—pull it toward justice.
6. Feel-Good Bonus: Sustainability & Originality 🌎✨
Big boxes ship container-loads across oceans. Hive To Home pours candles in small batches down the street, using locally harvested beeswax. Less transport = smaller carbon footprint.
If you're looking for candles and want to shop from an independent company, our scented beeswax candles are a great option. Money spent on our candles does cool things like planting trees & supporting charities, not sent out to shareholders. Read our scent guide to find whats best for you.
