2. EMBRACE WHAT MAKES OUR COMMUNITY UNIQUE

Our community is a city of neighborhoods. Where we shop, where we eat and hang out-all of this makes our neighborhood home. Chain stores are growing more aggressive throughout our community and threatening to change the unique character of our city. One-of-a-kind, Independent businesses are an integral part of what makes our community a great place to live.

3. FOSTERS LOCAL JOB CREATION

Studies show that locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than national chains. *

4. HELP THE ENVIRONMENT

Local business owners tend to set up shop downtown and in walkable neighborhood business districts, rather than developing on the city's fringe or in suburban strip malls accessible only by automobile. Having a diverse array of businesses within walking or biking distance reduces the amount of driving our residents must do to shop for goods and services. It also helps to conserve land, limit sprawl and lessen traffic and air pollution.

5. NURTURE COMMUNITY

Independent businesses are owned by people who live in this community and are committed to investing in our community's future. Studies have found that locally owned businesses contribute more than twice as much of their revenue to charitable causes as corporate chains do. And advocates of local causes find that local business owners are generally much more accessible than executives of large corporations based in other states. *

6. CONSERVE YOUR TAX DOLLARS

Small neighborhood and downtown businesses require less public infrastructure and make more efficient use of city services compared to sprawling big-box stores and shopping centers, which are far more costly in terms of road work and police services, according to studies. *

7. HAVE MORE CHOICES

A marketplace of thousands of small businesses helps to ensure more innovation and competition, and lower prices over the long term. Independent businesses, choosing products based on what their local customers need and desires, not a national sales plan, which guarantees a more diverse range of product and service choices.

8. BENEFIT FROM LOCAL OWNERS' EXPERTISE

Local business owners and employees often possess a level of expertise and a passion for the products they sell that is unmatched by employees and managers of national chains. They also tend to have a greater interest in getting to know their customers-who are, after all, also their neighbors. Simply put, local owners and employees take a special pride in their trade.

9. PRESERVE ENTRPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship fuels America's economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class. Plus, the success of locally owned, independent businesses provides real-life inspiration to our young people, proving that they can stay in Florida and prosper on their own terms.

10. ENSURE OUR COMMUNITY STANDS OUT FROM THE CROWD

In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character are more likely to attract entrepreneurs and new investment. Our citizens place a high value on individuality and consider our homegrown enterprises a source of pride. They are also an attraction to visitors.

* http://www.newrules.org/retail/econimpact.html and http://www.wilsonweb.com