Why You Should Support Small Businesses » Urban Milwaukee

It’s not easy being a small business owner – especially during the holiday season. Now more than ever, it’s important to keep local small businesses top of mind when tackling your holiday shopping lists. West Bend Mutual Insurance Company makes it a priority to support small businesses in every way we can, and we encourage you to do the same. Here are some reasons why you should shop local this holiday season:

Support and Grow Your Local Economy 

Heading into the holidays with the goal to shop at small businesses instead of big box stores means supporting the local economy and broader community. When local businesses are successful it’s an encouraging sign for other entrepreneurs to open their own business, and in some cases attract outside investment at the same time.

Shopping locally, also keeps your money in the community, creating a positive ripple effect impacting other individuals and businesses, enabling the entire community to flourish together.

Shop Now to Support Local Business Later  

Consider purchasing a gift certificate from a local business as you think about holiday presents for family and friends. By purchasing products and services in advance, you are providing the business capital that helps keep their business running for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, small businesses typically don’t operate at the same level of capacity to support large-scale shipping and logistics executed by larger corporations. Gift certificates are one way to support local businesses in a manner that can help generate immediate revenue and provide more time to effectively manage holiday inventory and any related shipping logistics.

Shopping Local is Environmentally Conscious

Supporting your local small businesses is a great way to be environmentally conscious. When you shop locally, packaging and other resources are conserved by eliminating the need to ship individual items. The best part is that local shopping is the gift that keeps on giving as local businesses tend to buy locally, too!

Save on Black Friday and Shop on Small Business Saturday. 

Rather than giving your hard-earned money to large corporations, skip Black Friday and wait one more day to support small businesses. In case you missed it this year, Small Business Saturday® will take place on Saturday, November 25, 2023. American Express officially launched Small Business Saturday in 2010, offering cardholders a $25 statement credit for shopping at small businesses. The goal was to help small businesses impacted by The Great Recession.

Today, Small Business Saturday has grown into an opportunity to celebrate and support locally owned small businesses and all they do for their communities – not only one day a year, but throughout the year as well.

West Bend is proud to insure many small retail shops that are important contributors to their communities. If you own or manage a retail small business, check out our Small Business Spotlight to learn more about the benefits of a West Bend policy. Or talk to a West Bend independent insurance agent to see how we can provide your valuable business with the comprehensive insurance coverage it needs.