This New Year Remember to Shop Mason Area Businesses First!

This new year, you can save both gas and money by shopping close to home. No, we’re not talking about shopping online. The shipping charges sometimes outweigh the savings buying that way. Instead, think about our local businesses.

Recently, a Mason woman was in the market for a new purse. She shopped at the mall and at other stores in Lansing, East Lansing, and Okemos until she found exactly what she wanted. The next day she did some shopping for other things in Mason and was surprised to see that that two Mason stores had purses for sale. She just didn’t think to “Shop the Mason Area First.”

Kind of a small thing, you say? Well, sometimes seemingly small acts can make a big impact. This year, you may think you’re just fulfilling your family’s needs when you shop out of town. Think again. The choice of where you spend your money makes a big difference to our community. I'm proud that I didn't set foot in a mall when Christmas shopping this past December!

Spending your money with local businesses puts your money to work directly helping our own community’s economy—just one way we all benefit from our hometown businesses. Those businesses use goods and services of other businesses – circulating your money longer locally than if you spend it elsewhere. This creates greater community health and prosperity.

Now imagine the impact on our community if everyone shopped more locally. You can stop imagining and help make it a reality. Maximize the impact of your dollars. Encourage your neighbors to do the same and inject potentially millions more into the local economy through doing our shopping, dining out and buying services with our local businesses. We’ll then have an even more vibrant local economy – right here in Mason, Michigan -- Hometown USA!