Page 120 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2025

SHOPLocalSmall story by Victoria Snyder SHOP
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our Coast. Chances are, you always hear about the importance of shopping and dining locally—but why? What benefits are there to you, your community, and your local economy?
The answer is: quite a few.
A small business is typically defined as a business with less than 500 employees. According to findings published by the Small Business Administration in 2024, there are over 34 million small businesses, which makes up 99.9 percent of all companies in the United States. Small businesses employ almost half of American workers, which is around 59 million people, and consistently create more jobs than large businesses.
So, how does that translate to our everyday lives? Aside from creating more jobs, studies have shown that when you spend money locally, more of that money stays local, instead of leaving the state. This money then has more opportunity to go to other small businesses; support local government, infrastructure, and schools; and overall, just get reinvested into the community.
Local businesses are also known to be more philanthropic and involved in the community than big businesses. The owners of these places often live in or near the communities they operate in. They have friends, family, and other loved ones in the community—of course they want their cities to be nice places to live.
Not only this, but small businesses are more in tune with what locals want. Go to almost any downtown or old town on the
Coast—you’ll find unique art, charming gifts, and so much more that only someone who loves this area could come up with.
Each employee also knows that each person that steps through their doors needs to have a good experience to keep up with competitors like big box stores that can offer discounts that smaller places cannot. This can also help create more innovative ideas. Small businesses usually do not have the budgets that big businesses do for marketing, products, and more. Therefore, they have to be more creative to get you through their doors.
If all of this wasn’t enough to make you want to shop locally, it’s also more environmentally friendly. It can help reduce your carbon footprint, conserve energy, and reduce waste. Local businesses often support local suppliers which lessens shipping materials, reduces transportation requirements, and more.
After all this, you might be wondering how you can take more steps to support small and local businesses. All it takes is a quick search online or a flip through your local magazine! You can eat at local restaurants (of which there are plenty of incredible options), go to the farmers market, support local artists, and so much more.
120 | August 2025
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