Chicago Shops Campaign Wants You to Spend Big, Shop Small by Supporting Neighborhood Businesses: #ChiBizShops
Shop Smart, Know Return Policies, and Beware of Scammers this Holiday!
The holiday shopping season is officially here with bright lights and great deals. It is a wonderful time of the year for both our retailers and consumers. The Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) launches its Chicago Shops Campaign to boost small business commerce in every neighborhood while offering important holiday shopping and safety tips to protect consumers and help them make good choices.
Whether you visit locally-owned businesses in your neighborhood or discover a new corner of Chicago, you’ll be keeping independent businesses alive and contributing to the local economy.
Small businesses are not only the single greatest generator of new jobs in our city but they are also the economic drivers in our neighborhoods. Like most neighborhood kids, my first jobs were just down the block from my house. It makes economic sense for you to spend locally, because 46 percent of the revenue from independent retailers stays in the local economy. National chains recirculate 13 percent locally.BACP Commissioner Rosa Escareno
Shifting just 10 percent of Chicagoland area retail spending from chains to independents would add as much as $1.2 billion to local economy. In Chicago, 58 percent of residents work for a small business, defined as having fewer than 250 employees. Small businesses and locally-owned stores generate salaries and economic well-being in every corner of the city.
Our Shop South Side Local event kicks off the holiday shopping season with a push to bring exposure and boost sales for small businesses in Hyde Park, Oakland, Kenwood, Washington Park, and Woodlawn and shine a positive light on the small businesses that are the economic engines for growth in our communitiesDiane Burnham, Executive Director of the SECC
Over the coming week and leading into the holiday season, BACP will be visiting small businesses in several areas of the City to promote neighborhood shopping this holiday season with a new #ChiBizShops campaign. From Bronzeville to Andersonville to Humboldt Park and Rogers Park, small businesses have an unparalleled ability to connect with customers and showcase unique products, food and fashion.
Read the entire press release: BACP Press Release -Shop Local Holiday.