One of the best feelings in the world is finding the perfect gift for someone you love. But if that gift is from a local business, you can feel even better about your purchase. Buying from local shops and merchants supports your friends and neighbors, and has a lasting benefit for the community.

Shop Local Raleigh, which promotes independent retailers and other small businesses, offers ten reasons to visit the shop around the corner.

1. Strengthen your community
   Studies show that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, significantly more of that money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.
2. Be greener with the greenbacks
   Locally owned businesses make more local purchases which require less transportation. These shops are generally located in town or city centers, which contributes less to urban sprawl and habitat loss. And unlike online retailers, local purchases don’t require much packaging.
3. Caring and sharing
   Nonprofits receive an average 250 percent more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.
4. Keep our community unique
   Where we shop, where we eat and have fun – all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place.
5. Create jobs
   Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents. 
6. Better customer service
   Employees of local businesses often have a better understanding of the products they sell and take more time to get to know customers.
7. Invest in your community
   Small business owners live in the community and are more invested in its future.
8. Put your taxes to good use
   Local businesses require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores. In addition, large businesses often receive tax incentives.
9. Encourage future growth
   A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.
10. Competition leads to more choices
    A marketplace of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.