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don't think you really realize how important it is until you own a business, because I didn't get it."
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• Competition
• Small businesses competing for Christmas shoppers generally face two challenges: Offering the same prices as the big stores, and offering similar selection.
• Prices are often (though not always) lower at chain stores. Whether that means savings overall, however, depends on the distance to the store, the price of gas, and whether a shopper is able to refrain from the temptation to buy more than needed because the price is low.
• A shopper might consider a price difference between a local store and a chain store as an investment in the community, as the effect on the community is significantly different if a dollar is spent at a big chain store compared to if it is spent locally.
• One reason is what's called the multiplier effect: No matter where you spend your money, it doesn't stay in the till for long, as it goes to pay for a variety of needs for the business (products and employee wages, in large part) and goes toward a profit for the business owner. If that business is a chain store, more of those purchases and all of the profit go out of the community.
• If the business is local, much more of that money--three times as much, according to the American Independent Business Alliance--stays in the local community, as a local business makes more of its purchases locally. 
• Local businesses are also more likely to give to local charities and causes, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
• Smaller stores also have a harder time offering the same selection as big box stores. That may not be an advantage if greater selection means more difficulty in finding what's on the shopping list, or time wasted in deciphering the array of options.
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• Service
• A recent survey, commissioned by American Express, showed that customers are not happy with the service they are getting. Two-thirds of those customers would be willing to pay more (up to 13 percent more) to get better service.
• And service is what local businesses are striving to offer.
• "I think that customer service is a big thing," said Jeani Amacher, owner of Dizzy Blondz in Britton. "We wrap for free, and there are some things that you can't get if you go to a big box store."

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