Portarlington – Where choice and quality meet value!

1. Keeping Euros in the Local Economy
Your Euros spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community as euros spent at national stores. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more local services through revenue gained, invest in our town improvement and promote community development.

2. Support Community Groups
Community groups and not-for-profit organisations receive much more support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

3. Create and Keep Good Jobs
Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally, and small businesses account for the vast majority of job growth. Locally owned businesses are far less likely to pull up stakes and move operations to another city or country, taking their jobs with them.

4. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship fuels local economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to improve their standard of living.

5. Get Better Service
In a local business, you know the person behind the counter, and they know you. They have a deep understanding of the products they are selling and take time to serve their customers.

6. Invest in the Community
Local businesses are owned by people who live here, work here, and are investing in the community with much more than their Euros.

7. Local Businesses Value You More
Evidence from numerous surveys shows people receive better customer care and service from local businesses. Businesses in small towns survive by their reputation and repeat business, so shopping local means that you get a higher standard of service.

8. Helping the Local Economy
Keeping your business local creates a healthy local economy.

9. Help out the Environment
Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases, requiring less transportation, and are generally set up in commercial areas rather than developing on the outskirts of town. This means less sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

10. Promote Competition and Diversity
A multitude of small business, each selecting products based on the needs of their local customers and not on a national sales plan, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

Courtesy of Portarlington Business Network