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Friends and Neighbors:

I have a personal challenge for you this weekend: SHOP LOCAL!

One of the major goals of Jewish Community Council of West Rogers Park is business outreach and development. We have reached out to many businesses on Devon and Touhy Avenue in an effort to be a resource for ongoing improvement. Examples of these efforts include storefront upgrades, identifying better operational procedures, and assisting with access to free customer parking. Of course we are also making a consistent push to attract new businesses, but in the meantime we must support the ones that are here. It is so important to patronize our local retail community for at least part of our overall shopping.

By choosing local and independent businesses for your services, shopping, dining and other needs, you not only get real value and personal service, you will experience add to the casual encounters that take place at neighborhood–scale businesses and the public spaces around them.  This builds community cohesiveness. Local businesses can become the ultimate social networking sites!

Here are 6 reasons why you should choose to do your shopping this week at a local business:

1.      STRENGTHEN YOUR LOCAL ECONOMY! Each dollar you spend at independent businesses returns 3 times more money to your local economy than one spent at a chain (almost 50 times more than buying from an online mega-retailer) — a benefit we all can bank on.

2.      SHAPE OUR CHARACTER! Independent businesses help give your community its distinct personality (Devon Avenue is truly the international marketplace).

3.      LOWER TAXES! More efficient land use and more central locations mean local businesses put less demand on our roads, sewers, and safety services. They also generate more tax revenue per sales dollar. The bottom line: a greater percentage of local independent businesses keeps your taxes lower.

4.      CHOICES! A wide variety of independent businesses, each serving their customers’ tastes, creates greater overall choice for all of us.

5.      CREATE JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES! Not only do independent businesses employ more people directly per dollar of revenue, they also are the customers of local printers, accountants, wholesalers, farms, attorneys, etc., expanding opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

6.      GIVE BACK TO YOUR COMMUNITY! Small businesses donate more than twice as much per sales dollar to local non-profits, events, and other local causes compared to big businesses.