Shopping Sustainably this Holiday Season
When you shop small this holiday season, you help Beverly businesses succeed, strengthen the regional economy - and fight climate change. This is because shopping locally can cut greenhouse gas emissions and waste, plus increase the health and resiliency of our ecosystem.
Here are some of the ways shopping locally, and sustainably can help our community.
REDUCED CARBON EMISSIONS
When you shop small this holiday season, your purchases both support local small businesses and keep gas usage down. You’ll log 26% fewer automobile miles when you shop locally, plus help reduce the number of “product miles” for the items you buy.
A warehouse shipping large quantities of a product directly to a single location (like a Beverly Main Streets business) instead of a small quantity to many different locations (like six different houses in Beverly) means fewer trucks on the road.
Similarly, when you shop local for your groceries you’re reducing “food miles”. The common thread is that consolidated and shorter-distance transit translates into lower greenhouse gas emissions. Lower GHGs mean you’re helping fight climate change with every decision to shop local.
RICHER ECOSYSTEM
Shop local AND protect native wild animals AND fight climate change? It’s true! Local farms improve soil health, and increase wildlife habitat by preserving open space from development.
Beverly has nearly 1,500 acres of open space between conservation land and parks, not including our valuable marsh and coastal areas. Countless animals rely on our natural resources and when you shop small this holiday season, you’re helping to protect their homes for the future as well as your own.
More wildlife can pose urban challenges (looking at you, turkeys in the road), but better habitat leads to more biodiversity which in turns leads to a healthier ecosystem that is more resilient in the face of climate change.
COMMUNITY CHARACTER
One of the things that makes a community special is its local businesses. We are fortunate in Beverly to have such a vibrant and thriving small business economy. On Cabot and Rantoul, on Ryal Side and North Beverly streets and in Beverly Farms, residents have access to an incredible range of goods and services.
Whether you need sustainable party goods, bike repair, or interior design services, you can find a Beverly business to meet your need. Our restaurants have become draws not just for other North Shore residents, but for the whole Greater Boston Area. You can grab world-class coffee or artisanal baked goods, handmade candles or pottery, and spend hours sorting through beautifully curated consignment and thrift goods.
Shop local to preserve our unique community character and keep Beverly a place we’re all lucky to live.
INCREASED HOME VALUE
You may have noticed that Beverly’s real estate market has been climbing steeply in recent years. While many factors contribute to the rise, one of them is the strength of our local businesses.
As Beverly attracts more retailers, restaurants, and professional offices, we also attract more people eager to live near such a vibrant downtown core. Forbes estimates that “Neighborhoods served by successful small businesses see home values increase 50 percent on average.”
When you shop small this holiday season, you’re supporting one of the pillars of our economic success and ensuring that home values stay strong in uncertain times.
LESS FOOD WASTE
One of the best parts about buying local food is its freshness. Not only will your holiday feast taste better when you support a local food business, but fresher produce lasts longer in your fridge.
In Beverly we’re lucky to have access to the highest-quality locally-grown food well into the cold months of the year. Farmer’s markets and organic food stores also accept EBT so local wholesome produce is within reach for most of us.
Local businesses waste much less food than large stores. Smaller stock quantities enable local shops and farms to turn over stock more frequently, reducing the amount of food that’s still sitting on the shelf when it reaches its sell-by date.
Avoiding food waste in your home can be especially tricky around the holidays. Read our guide on composting in Beverly (which just got even easier thanks to the city’s new public compost bin for food waste).
STRONG BEVERLY ECONOMY
Did you know that small businesses provide jobs for over 50% of the nation’s working population? More of America works for a company with fewer than 100 employees than for big corporations.
Sustainable holiday shopping supports the businesses that give back most to Beverly. Studies show that small businesses do better than their big-chain competition across four main economic areas:
Wages and benefits earned by those of us who work in town;
Profits earned by your neighbors who are local businesses owners;
Local goods and services purchased for resale and internal use;
and contributions to local nonprofits.
Shop local to support the business owners, artists, farmers, restaurants, and service providers who make our city unique. Shop sustainable to keep Beverly beautiful and vibrant for generations to come.
