Last week, Tooele Mayor Patrick Dunlavy signed a proclamation designating the first week of July as “Independents Week” in an effort to celebrate small businesses. The signing was part of a larger campaign by Local First Utah to raise awareness about the significant role independent businesses play in the life of Utah communities. Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said that the benefits of having independent businesses goes far beyond the economic rewards.
“Places that have lots of locally-owned businesses are healthier communities,” Mitchell said. “People are more likely to know their neighbors, they go to community meetings more often, they tend to be more engaged in local affairs.”
According to the latest research, there are 59,000 small businesses in Utah with employees. Nationally, the number of small businesses has declined in the past quarter century as online shopping has become more popular. Mitchell said that there is still some cause to hope for a revival.
“In the last 25 years, the market share of independent businesses has shrunk. We’ve lost about 80,000 independent retailers since the late 1990’s, for example,” she said. “Just in the last few years we’ve begun to see a bit of a revival. It’s a little early to know if this is going to hold.”
This year’s Independents Week runs from July 1 through the 7.
