Students should pay mind to local businesses

Welcome to Lincoln. If you've just moved here from another town or city, maybe you don't consider this your home yet, but with time, you might.

Even if you don't consider Lincoln your home yet, you can still take ownership, so to speak, of your current city. You can do this by supporting local business.

I'll start by explaining why we often get sucked into businesses that aren't locally owned, then explain the positive impact that buying from and supporting local  businesses can have on our local economy and your life here.

When out with your friends, trying to decide where to grab dinner is usually easiest to go to a familiar restaurant. If you didn't grow up here, that's most likely going to be a chain.

Chain restaurants might even be a comfort because they reminds you of home.

Also, as college students, we're perpetually worried about money, and typically only chains have the means to offer discounts due to their ability to buy in bulk or because of centralized advertising campaigns. Finally, chains are easier simply by virtue of how prevalent or how conveniently located they are. If prime real estate is available at a great location, a large corporation will have the wherewithal to snatch it up faster than a potential local business owner.

Having discussed the reasons why going with a chain is easier, I'll do my best to convince you to expand your horizons and do your new city a big favor.

According to a recent Economic Impact Analysis, since 1990, half of independently owned bookstores have gone out of business. This is because more than half of books sold nationally are bought at places such as Barnes & Noble and Borders.

This fact represents what is perhaps the most pressing reason to buy local.

Independently owned businesses are dying. Also since 1990, 5,000 independently owned hardware stores have closed their doors. When this happens, families lose their source of income, laborers lose jobs, and maybe worst of all, someone is out of a dream.

Here's where you come in. I suspect there are lots of freshman planning on majoring in business. In our society, due to a lack of support for local business, there simply aren't as many entrepreneurs as their used to be.

Sad, right?

Do you want to go to school to work for someone else or to start a business of your own? The road to entrepreneurship might begin with supporting local business. Make sense?

Local businesses are much more likely to support local artists and musicians If you are an artist or a musician, local coffee shops and bars will want to book a show or exhibit with you.

Local businesses contribute to local and state taxes, which means there will be more money available for education, after-school programs, recreation centers and other programs to help out Lincoln's kids.

To really drive home the importance of buying local, for every $100 dollars spent at a local business, $45 stays in town. For every $100 spent at a chain, only $12 sticks around. This is because local businesses are more likely to hire local labor and buy local goods.

The most recent San Francisco Retail Diversity Study showed that even a 10 percent redirection of spending (if 10 percent more money was spent locally) would give San Francisco a $192 million economic boost and create 1,300 new jobs. Granted, Lincoln isn't San Francisco, but you get the idea.

If you're wondering how to find local businesses, it's easy. Ask around. Or check out the ads in the back of this publication. Or ask me. So, once again, welcome to Lincoln. This is your new city. Take ownership of it.

Heather Berney is a Non-Degree Post-Baccalaureate graduate student. You can reach her at heatherberney@dailynebraskan.com