As easy as it is to bulk-buy all your holiday gifts on Amazon, that can hurt our local economy.
Kristen Lavelett, the Executive Director of Local First Utah, says locally owned and independent businesses keep more money in the Utah economy than national chains or shopping online with places like Amazon.
Lavelett also says for every $100 spent in a locally owned business, $55 stays in Utah's economy. Comparatively, only $13 stays in our economy if that money is spent with a national retailer, and only pennies on the dollar stay if you shop with Amazon.
Enter Shift Your Spending Month: Local First Utah's annual holiday campaign, which encourages Utahns to shift at least 10% of their holiday shopping towards locally owned, independent businesses.
"If every household in Utah shifted just 10% of their spending on annual basis, more than $1.3 billion would stay in Utah's economy," says Lavelett.
One place you can buy local is Clever Octopus.
Clever Octopus is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering creativity and environmental awareness through art, science, technology, engineering, and math. Their multitentacled approach includes the Clever Octopus Creative Reuse Center and the Octopod mobile outreach vehicle.
