Why You Should Support Small Businesses in Pottstown, Pennsylvania
In a cyberworld where Amazon has become the de facto one-stop-shopping megamall, Pennsylvania small businesses need your support. Small businesses are the lifeblood of the Philadelphia suburbs, and helping them helps the community.
7 Reasons Why You Should Support Small Businesses in Pottstown
“Shop local” isn’t just an empty slogan. To support small businesses is to support a better local economy and more choices in products and services. Fortunately, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, has many great small businesses for you to shop at and support.
1. Small Businesses Boost Local Economic Development
The benefits of small businesses are many. They include enabling innovation, increasing competition (and choices), and stopping monopolies from forming. Despite all the focus on big companies like Amazon, the 30.2 million small businesses in the United States make up 99.9% of all businesses in America.
When you spend money online, that money goes elsewhere. Of course, there is nothing wrong with sharing money with other communities, but often that non-local money tends to get concentrated in specific areas. To help your local community, buy from your local businesses. When you spend $100 by “shopping local,” almost two-thirds of that money, $68, will remain in your local area.
2. Pennsylvania Small Businesses Support the Local Community and Its Well-being
The benefits of small business in a community can be immeasurable. The best small businesses give back by supporting local charities, schools, and organizations. This support by local businesses is often crucial to helping smaller nonprofits and organizations survive and thrive. From building better schools to helping the homeless, Pennsylvania small businesses are often the driving force that makes that happen.
3. When You Support Small Business, You Help the Local Workforce
Smaller towns and cities need jobs. When you buy from a local store instead of a vast conglomerate (especially one that is online), you are helping create local jobs. This employment boost goes beyond immediate jobs and may also include added jobs from tourism. (Tourists love to visit small towns with unique shops!)
4. Small Businesses Are Run by People Who Care
While it may have become a movie cliché, the disconnected, impersonal boards or stockholders that run significant corporations tend to look at the bottom line first. They are not capable of assessing or even being aware of what a local community needs.
“Most independent businesses are run by people – not by boards, not by stockholders, not by algorithms. And so you get a different kind of care and quality in their product because their work is a reflection of themselves,” said Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur (co-founders – Of a Kind) in Forbes.
5. Pennsylvania Small Businesses Are Authentic and Offer Local Character
Anyone who is from Philly knows that it is nearly impossible to find a good, authentic Philly cheesesteak outside the area. If you are in California, you can “fuhgeddaboudit.” There are certain local flavors, foods, and customs you can’t find elsewhere. For example, in Pennsylvania, we have the proud Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch traditions that are unique and contribute to the diversity of our local community. Where do you find this local flavor? At small businesses.
6. Small Businesses Provide Unique Products
In addition to the local cultural offerings, small businesses are versatile and can offer many creative, unique products that aren’t possible on a bigger scale. From custom crafted items to personalized business services, local businesses have a leg up over large corporations in this regard. Small businesses are also better poised to help other small businesses with services and support.
7. Local Business Offer Personalized Customer Service
One of the most significant benefits of small businesses in a community is the friendly, personalized service. You can’t create a relationship with an automated phone system or online chatbot – frequently used as the first “face” of those big, impersonal online businesses.
When shopping in your local community, you can meet people face to face. Often, the business owner is the person you will deal with. This enables you to build positive relationships with the people you do business with. They are inspired to provide better, more personalized customer service. And you get to be a part of a community, not a cog in a wheel.
Office Technologies Supports the Pottstown Community and Local Charities and Organizations
Office Technologies was founded by Greg Cavallo in 1992. We have served local businesses in Southeastern Pennsylvania for 25+ years. We love being part of the Pottstown community. Some of the local organizations we support include the Rotary Club of Pottstown, the Foundation for Boyertown Education, the Good Will Steam Fire Engine Company, the Montgomery County Association for the Blind, and the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce.
Office Technologies is a leading independent provider of office imaging products, managed print services, and wide-format printing across Pennsylvania. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your Pennsylvania small business.
