Infographic: Why Shop Local

Help keep money in the local economy, create local jobs, and protect the environment when you shop local. This infographic explores why shopping local should be a top priority in your shopping list.

Does "shopping local" deserve to be thing? Is it just a motto that community-minded folks use to guilt others into shopping closer to home, or is it a practice that most everyone should try to adopt? We put the big facts around this issue all in one place, so you can decide for yourself.

Infographic: Why Shop Local © CreditDonkey

Check out the conflicting truths for those who advocate keeping most consumer dollars with smaller, local businesses whenever possible. Shopping local can have clear benefits:

• Locally run stores tend to employ more local workers than comparable chain stores
  
• Money spent at those stores goes a longer way in paying for the wages of local workers

At the same time, shopping local is not always necessarily environmentally friendly or a way to support American-made products.

The term "shop local" should go beyond just words used to drum up business. Consumers should educate themselves on what those words actually mean, and decide for themselves whether it matters to them where their dollars go after they spend them. The team at CreditDonkey put together this infographic, as we do with all the data we share on our site, as a way to educate consumers in how they manage and spend their money.

Do you plan to shop local this holiday season? Let us know.

(Research by Astrid; Graphic Design by Santosh; Graphic Editing by Maria; Additional Writing and Editing by Sarah)