Woman: Shopping local preserves the special character of a city and instills pride in its residents. According to Mike Kuhns, president of the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, by supporting local business, we preserve unique qualities about a city which can encourage tourism.

Shopping local also means that you encounter the people who preserve the character of a city and its neighborhoods. In their book, Better Together Restoring the American Community, Robert Putnam and Lewis Feldstein state, "The replacement of local shops by chain stores and single-use zoning that puts housing, workplaces, and retail establishments in different areas, has eliminated the corner drug stores and the coffee shops where people met one another and found out about the neighborhood."

Some local business owners have been in your neighborhood for years and know a lot about the area. Consider the story of Frank. He's owned a shoe repair shop in Brooklyn for decades. Think of all the character business owners like Frank bring to a neighborhood.