Think Big & Shop Small this Saturday

The holiday season is upon us! (Where did this year go?!) The weather is starting to cool, store fronts are decorated and soon Downtown Ruston will be filled with festivities for the season. As you start your Christmas shopping, consider how you can support your neighborhood and in return, find the unique items and must-haves for everyone on your list. 

Saturday, November 29th is Small Business Saturday. Not that anyone needs a special day to shop local, but it's great to have a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday that positively affects the area. By recycling revenue back into our local economy, we encourage innovation and prosperity and enrich the entire community!

Follow the Ruston Lincoln Parish CVB on Twitter! Spread the love by using the hashtags #ShopSmall, #ShopLocal and #RustonLA to show us where you like to shop! 

Top Ten Reason to Think Big & Shop Small

1. Buy Local & Support Yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned business, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms-- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.

2. Support Community Groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average of 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.

3. Keep Our Community Unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun-- all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit.

4. Reduce Environmental Impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

5. Create More Jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents.

6. Get Better Service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.

7. Invest in the Community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.

8. Put Your Tax Dollars to Good Use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.

9. Buy What You Want: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

10. Encourage Local Prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

 Tell us about your adventures in #RustonLA!