I saw a commercial the other day on TV for a program Rochester has established to support local businesses in town called “Buy Rochester.” It is more and more imperative in today’s economy that we support as much local business as we can. Small businesses are only able to thrive in communities that support them; that is by shopping with them. How can a small independent business compete against giants such as Walmart and Target? While their prices might be substantially cheaper, ask yourselves how they are able to do that? I’m not suggesting that you stop shopping at Walmart, Target and the like altogether. I am suggesting though, that you remember your local businesses too, many of which can offer superior quality and better services. Also, I think it is important to have variety of products and services in town, homogeneity is boring! It makes for a more interesting community and will support a larger variety of people and talents. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about a presentation I attended concerning Rochester’s growth and how our small community could support incoming talents. One of the major supports will be our continued efforts to sustain the local businesses. As the website states, just by increasing spending 5% in the local businesses, we could create 1462 jobs!!

So check out this website and join in! It is only through your participation that we can create the type of community we want:

http://buyrochestermn.com/index.php