We recently enjoyed talking with a local business owner, Andrew Smith of Tallmadge Collision Center, about his views on buy local.
Andrew has invested in the local community of Greater Akron for over ten years, owning three small businesses. He has great wisdom and insight when it comes to buying local and how that affects our local community.
So, without further ado, we welcome our guest blogger Andrew Smith to Buy Local Serve Local to share with all of you his experience in a local small business.
By Andrew Smith
Owner, Tallmadge Collision Center
Have you ever wondered why so much attention is given to supporting small businesses during this pandemic crisis? The reason on its surface is simple…the money going into the small business stays locally and is spent locally supporting our communities.
There are more complex reasons which are less apparent but nonetheless as important or even more critical.
First, we have incentives that are purely aligned with serving our communities as we live in them. Our reputation as an independent collision shop, for example, is a source of pride for us as owners living in our community. Our vision is to have the most experienced, highest quality technicians in our shop to maintain and support our business’s high-quality reputation and mission.
In short, our shop’s reputation impacts the owner/employees living in the community rather than a large corporation headquartered in New York or Chicago who may be too busy to worry about anyone shop in one community.
Second, our employees are not numbers on a spreadsheet with value-add calculations next to their IDs. Our employees are valued, empowered team members who drive new ideas, train others, and move the business in the same direction.
The overall result of being locally owned and independent then becomes obvious. Your experience will undoubtedly result in a higher quality product with the revenue and profit gained remaining in the local community, which during times of crisis is even more critical for our communities.
