Local Businesses and Growing
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Welcome to the LaPerle business directory. Here, you will be able to easily navigate our business categories and listings in order to locate and connect with local vendors and businesses within Edmonton that can provide you with the service and/or product you are looking for.
You may have noticed a big movement starting to take place. It’s a movement that takes consumers away from large, impersonal big-box retailers and introduces them to the people doing business in their very own cities. These are gardeners, construction workers, food vendors, product specialists, service providers, and everyone else in between who are selling items locally and providing services designed just for you. When a consumer supports their local business owners, they enjoy benefits they can’t possibly get from shopping at national chains. Here are some top reasons to support your local entrepreneurs:
You may have noticed a big movement starting to take place. It’s a movement that takes consumers away from large, impersonal big-box retailers and introduces them to the people doing business in their very own cities. These are gardeners, construction workers, food vendors, product specialists, service providers, and everyone else in between who are selling items locally and providing services designed just for you. When a consumer supports their local business owners, they enjoy benefits they can’t possibly get from shopping at national chains. Here are some top reasons to support your local entrepreneurs:
IMPROVE THE LOCAL ECONOMY
When a consumer buys local, significantly more of that money stays in the community. In fact, one study found that for every $100 spent at a local business, $68 remained in the city while only $43 of each $100 spent at a chain retailer remained within the city. Local business owners often have incentive to support other local businesses, patronizing local establishments for both business and personal reasons. Chain businesses, on the other hand, tend to get their supplies from corporate, as well as having store managers and employees that aren’t as personally invested in buying local. |
KNOW THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PRODUCT
When you personally know the people behind the business where you’re buying local products and services, you enjoy a connection you would not otherwise have. Along with the rest of the community, you celebrate when a favourite local business succeeds. You also mourn when it’s forced to shut its doors. This personal investment isn’t quite as present when a chain business closes, aside from feeling disappointment that you have fewer businesses within convenient driving distance. |
BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE
If you’ve ever dealt with a large corporation, you know getting help can be a nightmare. You’ll call a 1-800 number, only to be transferred seven times and put on hold. Even when you speak to a customer service representative, that person is so far removed from the decision-making process, there’s little concern that the company will lose you as a customer.
When you shop local, the business owner is usually directly connected to every employee in the store. That leads to a personal approach that often means any problem you have is taken seriously.
If you’ve ever dealt with a large corporation, you know getting help can be a nightmare. You’ll call a 1-800 number, only to be transferred seven times and put on hold. Even when you speak to a customer service representative, that person is so far removed from the decision-making process, there’s little concern that the company will lose you as a customer.
When you shop local, the business owner is usually directly connected to every employee in the store. That leads to a personal approach that often means any problem you have is taken seriously.
KEEP YOUR COMMUNITY UNIQUE
Local businesses give a community its flavour. Towns across Canada have similar chain restaurants, grocery and department stores but that diner down the street where you have breakfast every Saturday morning is one-of-a-kind. The combined presence of your town’s many local businesses makes it different from every other city in the world. By supporting those businesses instead of chains, you ensure that uniqueness is preserved as a part of your community. |
MORE PERSONALIZED SERVICE
Having the owner nearby also means that owner personally knows his or her customers. He or she knows the products you buy or the services you request on a regular basis and can tailor services to make your experience even better. A local gardening shop owner may learn about a new product on the market that can help you with a pest control problem you mentioned on one of your visits, for instance, and can order that product as part of his or her selections. |
Buying local has benefits beyond mere convenience. When you support local business owners, you get a better level of service, as well as helping make your community a better place to live. This is in addition to the health benefits and access to unique products that you usually can’t find with chain locations.
FEATURED BUSINESSES
Check out which businesses are in the spotlight this month!