I have owned my small business on the West Coast for 36 months now, and one think which is very apparent is the amount of businesses and retail shoppers are willing to travel to Cape Town 120km away to do there business.

There is a perception that its cheaper?

I would like to try and bring it home to business owners that shopping local boast the whole economy of a small town, and ultimately leads to better prices more jobs, more spenders in the local community hence a massive knock on effect.

The 120km

If you buy your new TV from the local store, and everybody else does the same, this store will get busy, he will be in a position to negotiate better prices from the distributor/importer he will also have to employ more staff to help with the busy store these new staff will spend there money in your store! Seems like a basic idea. But it doesn’t work like that WHY NOT, why do we get in our car drive 100km to Makro or HiFi Corporation WHY do we get better prices, better selection, better service. I don’t think so its just a perception. Did you save any money driving those 120km time, wear and tear on the vehicle.

How do you encourage clients to buy local?