(or how to turn £10 into £50!).
That got your interest didn’t it.

There’s a bit of maths that says if you spend £10 in a local shop that sells stuff from local
producers the amount of money that goes back into Leek’s economy can be over £50!

Well if you imagine that when you buy a Leek-made pie from a local shop, a big part of your money is passed on to the local piemaker. The shop employs a local accountant or even a decorator. In turn the piemaker who sources his meat from a local farm spends a big percentage of his money with the farmer. The farmer then spends some of his money at his local garage, the garage owner etc. etc…..

With each step, in a case like this, around 80% of each spend often goes into the local economy. So in effect the money that stays within Leek gets more & more.

Local independent businesses are far more likely to use other local firms than any of the big national giants would – it’s what makes them tick and they know the true value of keeping it “Totally Locally”. It’s also a lot easier!

The more everyone spends within our area the stronger our economy grows, which means more jobs, better facilities, vibrant town centres and a nicer place for us all to live.

This can be applied to everything from a college to bike manufacturers, to music shops, to food producers.

If you compare this with buying online & outside the area – where none of the money comes back into the Leek economy – it seems to make sense really. Add to this a smaller impact on the environment due to less transportation and you have good reasons for keeping your purchasing Totally Locally.

It’s not about protectionism, it’s about small decisions that have a big impact on where we live.

Only by following the money trail do you get a true sense of the knock-on effects of buying Totally Locally Leek. It takes you in all kinds of directions, ping-ponging from groceries and clothing, to tradesmen and accountants, each time adding to our economy. The trail is staggering.
For more on this and to see how it works, see our article “The Money-Go-Round” on the Calderdale page.

So when you go for your next purchase, be it eggs, a sofa or new pair of shoes, consider the true effect of how you buy.