Your community’s superpower

Elon Musk once said, “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” While he was talking about rockets and electric cars, the same principle applies to transforming your community. Sometimes you have to be willing to take risks, shake things up, and champion the underdog—in this case, your local businesses.

Think of your community’s economy like a garden. When you plant seeds (spend money) with big box stores and national chains, those seeds sprout quickly but send their roots somewhere else entirely—to corporate headquarters thousands of miles away. But when you plant those same seeds with local businesses, something magical happens: the roots spread deep and wide throughout your neighborhood soil, creating an interconnected network that feeds everything around it.

The Money Merry-Go-Round:  Here’s where the math gets exciting. Studies consistently show that dollars spent with locally-owned businesses don’t just visit your community—they move in and become permanent residents. These dollars circulate between three and seven times through your local economy, like a friendly neighbor who keeps dropping by to help out. Compare that to money spent with big chains, which acts more like a tourist: it shows up, takes a quick selfie, and immediately heads home to corporate headquarters.

Let’s paint this picture with real numbers. Imagine your community spends $1 million. If that goes to big boxes and chains, your community gets back about $100,000 in sales tax (assuming a 10% rate). But route that same million through local businesses, and suddenly you’re looking at $300,000 to $700,000 returning to your community coffers. That’s not just loose change—that’s real money creating real jobs for real families.

The Heart and Soul Economy: Local business owners aren’t just merchants; they’re community investors with skin in the game. They support local causes and charities at roughly three times the rate of outside-owned businesses. Why? Because when the high school needs new band uniforms or the animal shelter needs supplies, these business owners see those needs at the grocery store, at their kids’ soccer games, and in their own neighborhoods.

It’s like the difference between a landlord who lives across the country and one who lives next door. Guess which one is going to fix that broken step faster and care more about the property? These local champions are also four times more likely to roll up their sleeves and get involved in leadership roles—joining the Chamber, running for city council, or spearheading economic development initiatives. They’re not just writing checks; they’re writing the story of your community’s future.

The Poverty Prevention Formula: Here’s a sobering reality check: communities with higher percentages of prosperous local businesses consistently show lower poverty rates. It’s like having a strong immune system versus a weak one. When your economic ecosystem is diverse and locally rooted, it’s more resilient against outside shocks and creates opportunities for everyone.  Think of it this way: would you rather have your community’s economic health rely on decisions made in boardrooms thousands of miles away, or on passionate local entrepreneurs who wake up every morning in your zip code?

Downtown - Your Community’s Beating Heart: If your community were a human body, downtown would be the heart. And here’s the amazing part: every dollar invested in downtown revitalization—whether tax money or private investment - generates about 30% higher returns than investments elsewhere in the city. It’s like compound interest for community development. When downtown thrives, it’s like a rising tide that lifts all boats. Property values in surrounding areas increase, creating a ripple effect that benefits homeowners, increases the tax base for schools, and builds community pride that you can practically feel in the air.

Now, let’s be clear—this isn’t about declaring war on big box stores or chain restaurants. They have their place, like reliable supporting actors in a great movie. The goal is balance, not boycott. Think of it like a healthy diet: you need variety, but you want most of your nutrition coming from fresh, local sources rather than processed foods shipped from far away.  The secret sauce is creating a community that’s uniquely yours—something that can’t be replicated by corporate headquarters or algorithms. That uniqueness becomes your competitive advantage in attracting visitors, new residents, and businesses that want to be part of something special.  Your community’s truly-local DNA isn’t just a nice-to-have feature—it’s your economic survival kit. In a world where everything feels increasingly generic and digital, being genuinely, authentically local isn’t just different; it’s revolutionary.  The question isn’t whether you can afford to go local. It’s whether you can afford not to.

John A. Newby is the author of the “Building Main Street, Not Wall Street” column dedicated to helping local communities, government and business combine synergies allowing them to thrive in a world where truly-local is being lost to Amazon and Wall Street chains. His email is john@truly-local.org