David, Goliath & Corona

What COVID-19 reminds us about building immunity in our local economies

When the grim reality of the COVID-19 crisis began to dawn on us we all had that moment. Once we’d considered the immediate and unfortunate mortal realities, our minds wandered closer to home — what about the local pub/caff/bookshop? And what can I do about it?

It’s now well understood that the current crisis has given us pause for thought and brought to bear challenges and imbalances within our wider society. A large amount of this relates to matters of health, infrastructure and politics that whilst vitally important, are hard to influence as an average citizen. Without in any way belittling these issues, I want to take some time to talk about an unconscious decision that we all make every day that could have a large impact ‘when this is all over.’ How we can strive towards spending every pound with purpose.

Hiding in plain sight — two key lessons amongst crisis

BBC News reported today that 1 in 5 small businesses are unlikely to get the cash they need to survive the next 4 weeks despite government support measures, and between 800,000 and 1 million UK businesses may have to close. However, over the past few weeks we’ve seen the precariousness of small businesses matched by the callousness of large corporations that are a big part of our national consumer habits, be they Amazon, Sports Direct, Wetherspoons, the list goes on.

Not only this but the monolithic businesses we would expect to weather the storm are the ones who have been quick to refuse rents, request employee pay cuts and seek large government bailouts. Smaller businesses are left facing minimal letup in rent payments and, where they can get it, government aid in the form of loans which will severely hit their bottom line. Whilst rate relief and grants are being pushed, the BBC stats above point towards real shortfalls.

With extra time on our hands and a keen eye on the news many of us have rediscovered our own roles within this dichotomy. Alongside toilet roll the must-have item in households right now is a dual list of the businesses that we’ll support and the businesses that we’ll avoid once we emerge from the crisis. Our individual spending power becomes ever more apparent with every message from a local retailer, pub or café announcing their current struggles.

Same story, very different day

Buying local isn’t a new argument, but it is newly relevant. Whilst often strong in rural areas, supporting local business is something that we’ve gotten away from as a nation on the whole. With longer commutes, contracting communities and tighter budgets we often think less about prioritising businesses in our local areas.

Globalisation and the continuing march of national chains have given us unprecedented access to all manner of goods, the convenience of many things in one place and lowered costs due to huge economies of scale. Not that this is all terrible, it would be remiss not to note that supermarkets have proven their worth as essential services over the past few weeks. The problem is that every pound spent with the big guys isn’t coming back to our communities in the same way, and businesses are at risk of closing, especially now. As we’ve seen recently, we don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone.

Admittedly, buying ‘with purpose’ is not a new concept. Nielsen have shown 66% of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable goods, rising to 73% for millennials. The complication here is that in our globalised society our purchase power has spiralled out to try tackle more international and often less tangible issues. I am advocating for the immediacy of spending within your nearer environment, as well as continuing to support those businesses with more global purposes.

So what can you do about it? Swap.

The best news is that all this is probably something you’re already doing, we just need to do it more, and that means sacrificing convenience for community. You’ve probably got a favourite coffee shop, a bakery, your newsagent and local boozer. But late at night we’ll browse online and order some books from Amazon, when in the supermarket we’ll throw some beers in the trolley. These are missed opportunities for the bookshop, for the beer store and the people that run them. We need to consciously make swaps. Larger for local.

With the time we have on our hands now, let’s consider the regular purchases we make from larger businesses across our lives — clothing, electricals, groceries, books, DIY etc. and identify smaller local providers who may be able to offer the same things. When our businesses open up let’s continuously challenge ourselves to make these swaps on a regular basis, put time and money aside to do this.

Of course, ‘time and money’ is the elephant in the room. This exercise, like many ethical choices is one that requires privilege to indulge in it. Many of us can’t always afford to make these swaps due to restricted budgets and hours in the day, especially in the current climate. The ask is merely to make the consideration of where you are able to make your money go further. This is money that goes back into your community, it has a cumulative effect. smallbusiness.co.uk cites research showing that every £10 spent with a local independent shop means up to an additional £50 goes back into the local economy as these business owners and employees in turn spend around them.

Why should we bother?

We could go into the detail of the many benefits to buying local — personal expertise, curated items, supported communities, purchases that actually contribute to taxes… But ultimately I believe that we are lucky enough to be able to do it, it is the morally right thing to do. Time and time again we see that large corporations mistreat employees, suppliers, government and even their own customers. Meanwhile local businesses find themselves in precarious positions, dependent upon often unpredictable trade.

We’ve seen in the current crisis that when our local favourites disappear, they are sorely missed. When they do return in the coming months let’s work to put our pounds in people and places that truly make a difference. Get more of your usual, seek out new swaps and find new locals to champion.