Let’s talk shopping local! We’re all about supporting small businesses (especially women-owned businesses) at Farmer’s Body, a bath and body care company located in Hartland, VT. As a small business that employs six strong women, we know how important it is to invest in the local economy and support the local workforce. We’ve always used ingredients sourced from local farmers, and we intentionally work with women farmers and small women-owned businesses.

Wondering why we’re so passionate about shopping small and supporting small businesses? Here are a few reasons that might give you some insight.

1. Shopping small builds up your local community. Shopping with a local small business means supporting your neighbors, and that’s a good feeling. Shopping small contributes to the strength of your community and directly benefits the people you interact with on a daily basis. That’s a huge win in our book.
2. Shopping small boosts the local economy. According to American Express, for every dollar spent at a small business, an average of $0.67 stays in that business’s local community. In addition, tax dollars usually go toward infrastructure and programs that are designed to benefit your community. Shopping local also allows small businesses to grow and bring on more employees. In fact, the director of communications for the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies reports that small businesses employ about 77 million Americans and improve stability in communities
3. Shopping small provides a better shopping experience. In our experience, most small business owners are genuinely passionate about what they do. That means they’re more likely to care about making your shopping experience a pleasant one. Shopping small also usually means a more personalized shopping experience since you’re making a genuine connection and purchasing from an actual person rather than a faceless corporation.

So now that we’ve covered the importance and benefits of shopping small and local when you can, let’s talk about a few additional things that you can do to support small businesses outside of purchasing their products or services.

• Leave reviews. One of the best things you can do for a small business is to leave a review of their products or services. It only takes a few minutes of your time, and it doesn’t cost a thing. It’s really important for small business owners to have reviews to back up what they’re offering, so this is something simple you can do to help out.
• Spread the word with friends and family. It’s absolutely free to promote a small business by word of mouth, and it’s such a huge help! Lots of people make their purchases based on recommendations from people they know, so you can support your favorite local small business by telling people all about it.
• Follow and share their social media content. Most small business owners put lots of effort into their online marketing these days. Simply following a small business’s Facebook page and sharing their posts on a regular basis can really go a long way. Another easy way to support a small business on social media is by posting pictures of their products and making sure to tag them.

P.S. Check out our story to learn more about the vision and mission behind Farmer’s Body and why we’re such huge supporters of shopping small. 

If you have a wellness themed topic you would like to share or learn more about, and/or blog/vlog about as an expert in a health/wellness related field, please reach out to shelby@cclyme.org. 

Shelby Wood
Manager of Program Development
CommunityCare of Lyme
Shelby@cclyme.org
802-468-7776