Research Paper

Buy Local Movement

The “buy local” movement represents the shift over the past years that retailers and manufacturers have been marketing heavily. The main ideal behind the movement is that purchasing ingredients, raw materials, or anything else included in the final product from local farmers or producers helps support local businesses. (Retail Merchants Association, 2011)

This all started back around 2008 when our economy began to crash in memorable fashion. Thousands of small businesses were forced to close their doors for good and those who remained open faced constant pressure from big box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Costco (The St Chronicles, 2009). Many local restaurants and retailers found that it was much more cost efficient to purchase their products from much closer, locally grown sources (Tozzi, 2009).

What started as a cost cutting technique turned into something very marketable and something people began to seek out. Consumers like the idea of buying things that have not been overly processed or frozen and shipped across the country; they believe it to be of higher quality (Andersen, 2010).

The list of benefits for purchasing products produced locally is extensive. The most common perceived benefit is that when you buy locally your money stays local (Smith, 2009). This makes consumers feel that they are investing back into their communities and with all of the scrutiny against big box retailers this works a lot in the local retailers favor.

Michigan has taken full advantage of this locally produced movement. Having one of the largest selection of locally produced wines and beers in the United States has allowed countless new restaurants and locally owned grocery retailers to market these products heavily to the public through print, radio, T.V. and social media. Even in Kalamazoo we see new places popping up focusing solely on locally produced products, such as Kalamazoo Beer Exchange and Plum Marketplace.

The buy local movement has...