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Shop Urbana!

You benefit from experience.

• At a local store, you are more than three times likely to find something new and interesting.
• You get the right thing and save time by relying on the expertise of local retailers.

You connect with the community.

• In places with more local businesses, people have stronger social ties, and participate more in civic affairs.
• Shopping locally means bumping into friends, enjoying lively streets, and trading neighborhood news with the people behind the counter.
• Local businesses make communities work.

You strengthen Urbana's economy.

• Local businesses hire local people.
• They pay local taxes.
• They source goods locally.
• Compared to shopping online, independent retailers create two times as many jobs for the same amount of revenue.*

You help keep the environment green.

• Even if you drive to the store, you still save shipping, handling and many, many traveled miles for your purchase's transport. That results in less greenhouse gases in the environment.
• Local and independent trades people are more likely to use repurposed materials by upwards of 60 percent over those hired by big-box companies. **

You cast a vote for the American Dream.

• Starting a local business is a tried and true pathway to success for the middle class.
• By supporting local entrepreneurs, you invest in the future that works for all in Urbana.
• Communities with more small businesses have less income inequality. ***

*"Amazon's Stranglehold," Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Nov. 2016.

**www.epa.gov.

***"Wage Inequality and Firm Growth," Holger M. Mueller, et. al., LIS working Paper 632, March 2015.