Listening to the national news this week I was encouraged to hear retail sales are up this year.

Its been a long time coming. But what does this mean for us locally? Are the numbers on the rise for retailers here?

The national trend translating here remains to be seen and mostly depends upon you. Where are you spending your money this year? During this holiday season please remember to shop local.

Did you know local businesses on average return about 80 percent of every dollar received back to the community (according to the American Independent Business Alliance). The alliance also says every dollar spent locally returns five times that amount through municipal taxes, employee wages and the purchase of materials, supplies and services from other local businesses.

Lets put that into real numbers that mean something.

There are approximately 20,000 people in Polk County. If each of you spends just $20 in the county that would amount to $400,000 spent with local shop owners.

Then, if we multiply the $400,000 by five times the return to the local community, we could see a boost of $2,000,000 this holiday season alone.

Most of us will spend quite a bit more than $20 on gifts this year, the question is, how much of that spending has come home to help your fellow neighbor and community?

Support your neighbors by shopping at their stores, eating at their restaurants and using their services. Our local businesses are vital to the community, and we need to support them to keep them around. You can do your part this holiday season and all year round by shopping local.

Betty Ramsey is the publisher of the Tryon Daily Bulletin. Her email address is betty.ramsey@tryondailybulletin.com