The tenth of the core values of The Business Wellbeing Club is: “We love our local economy and have a genuine passion for wanting to help businesses grow, flourish and succeed.”
It is appropriate that I share this value now, as we lead up to the festive season. For many businesses, particularly in retail and hospitality, the two months leading up to Christmas are crucial for their survival for the rest of the year. It is why campaigns like Small Business Saturday started up – to encourage people to spend their Christmas present budget with small businesses in the local economy.
Totally Locally is another organisation that works with communities to promote how supporting businesses in the local economy makes for a more vibrant town. Every year the towns involved have “Fiver Fests” which highlight just how much money could go into a local economy if every adult spent just £5 per week with a local independent business.
According to Government statistics there were 5.6 million private sector businesses in the UK in 2023 and a massive 5.51 million (99.9%) were small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. They employed 16.7 million people and financial turnover of these companies in 2023 was £2.4 trillion, that’s 53% of the total turnover of private businesses.
Independent businesses are a vital part of the UK economy and the money they turnover tends to be spent locally too – not being sucked out of the economy by head offices and shareholders in other countries.
Successful small businesses focus on customer experience often having specialist, local knowledge and passion that is not found in the multi-national outlets.
The burgeoning of small-scale producers, such as dairies, breweries and chocolatiers has given a welcome range of produce and are often giving a taste of local traditions.
Local shops will also retain some of the local culture – a Scottish butcher will be selling haggis, Lorne sausage and Scotch pies – a nod to local culture. A baker’s shop in Yorkshire will sell ginger parkin and recommend fruit cake to be eaten with Wensleydale cheese.
By using local businesses, we are stimulating the local economy – a small business is likely to buy from other local businesses and employ local contractors, rather than using centralised suppliers. In March 2025 the Totally Locally team are back, organising the National Magic Tenner Campaign. Check out their website to see how a town can generate £50 from £10 as the money stays in the local economy.
Local businesses are often more environmentally sustainable than larger ones, for example, because your local baker will probably use local suppliers for the ingredients, thereby reducing the carbon footprint.
By supporting local small businesses, we are helping create jobs in our local economy and the more we buy from them, the more people will be employed.
Local businesses are often involved in local collaborations too – putting on events such as wedding fairs, food markets and festivals, all of which bring revenue into the local economy.
All the members of The Business Wellbeing Club want to help small businesses grow, flourish and succeed. But it is not just about spending money with independent businesses. Here are some other ways that we can (and do) support other businesses:
How are you going to help a small business this week?
