Investing in your hometown

It’s hard to miss the messaging this holiday season when it comes to where to spend your 
hard-earned money.
Among the various campaigns to support local businesses, the four local chambers of commerce 
recently launched our Hometown Holiday campaign.
Thanks to local advertising agency Outpost379, you will be hit with promotion for shopping local when you listen to the radio, watch television, read the newspaper, or go online. It’s on billboards and at local events.
We’ve been asking a lot of this community when it comes to supporting local businesses and we have been blown away by the response. Local support is critical. 
But supporting local businesses is not just a temporary measure to do our part locally in a global health crisis. 
Our Hometown Holiday campaign is just the beginning as we build momentum with our new regional partnership between ourselves, Kawartha Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, Havelock Chamber of 
Commerce, and Millbrook & District Chamber of Commerce. We also have the support of local 
agencies and organizations that work to enhance the local business community.
We’re kicking things off with a holiday shopping campaign, but supporting local means much more. Our community is full of amazing opportunities to be entertained with a vibrant arts and culture scene, relax with a staycation, and enjoy some of the finest culinary offerings out there.  We have some amazing locally manufactured goods, locally grown and raised food, and creative makers. We have local trades and 
homebuilders, local real estate agents and automotive dealers, and local accountants and lawyers. This list goes on, but supporting local covers everything from picking up presents to taking courses to building a house.
Small and medium-sized business:
• Employ almost 90% of Canada’s private sector workforce
• Account for 30% of Canada’s GDP
• Are twice as likely to be lead or co-lead by a woman (1 in 3)
Thanks to the rapid adaption and reinvestment of businesses, supporting local has grown to have a 
significant online presence. 
In a time of supply chain disruptions, shipping delays and travel restrictions, the opportunity to spend 
locally offers a less-hassle approach to getting what you want when you want it.
More than anything, supporting local business is an investment. It’s estimated that $68 of every $100 spent at a locally owned business stays in the community. That’s money that goes into taxes to pay for our services and infrastructure. It goes into wages that circulate back into spending on local goods and services. It goes into business supports from legal and accounting work to repairs and renovations. It is reinvested in cultural events, sports teams and social programs in our community. 
There are different degrees of local and opinions on what defines it. Not every business and product can have a regional supply chain. Opinions aside, we can say definitively that spending your money with a business that employs people locally — whether it’s an independent, franchise or chain — is better for the community than the alternative. 
Shop local and make this a hometown holiday.