Why Should I Buy Local?

Buy your gown with a local bridal shop. We give back to Albuquerque!

We thank you for considering a local bridal shop. Buying local is important to Albuquerque and New Mexico. You work hard for your money. Make sure that your money does more than just make that single purchase. Consider local businesses when you’re buying.

Do you think that Albuquerque doesn’t have the kind of dress or experience you’re searching for? Want bragging rights? You might not say that you bought your dress at Kleinfelds in New York City, but you can say that you chose to buy in a place that would help your home. Brag about making the choice to do what good you did by buying where you did. Those are bragging rights!

If you’re thinking about buying a dress out of state, consider looking at what a local shop can offer. Saying yes to your dress is just the beginning of your relationship with that the shop. You’ll need to go back in for alterations, accessories and then your final fitting. Will driving to another area really be worth those trips? It’s can just be inconvenient during a time when you have too many things to get done.

So, what if you want to buy your gown in Denver or Dallas and do your alterations here at home? Often times it is difficult to find an experienced alterations person who will take on a wedding dress that wasn’t purchased in a shop that the seamstress has a working relationship with. Who will do that for you? And what about getting your dress steamed before the ceremony? There are advantages to keeping that close to home.

And then there’s buying a dress online. Before doing that, consider some of this information. When you buy online, the money goes out of New Mexico. When you buy local, it means you help with local jobs, helping the tax base of your community that goes to helping schools and public infrastructure. Complain about your roads? If you buy local, that local tax helps to improve them. Those are just some of the social benefits that come with investing within New Mexico. But it’s gone with an online buy.

But Americans still spend 65 percent of their total shopping budget in stores. So, what about buying in a national chain? Statistics show that when you buy something from a local shop, 68 percent of the money ($68 is left in the local economy for every $100 you spend). Your spending benefits everyone who has a hand in that transaction, circulating though the local economy. When you buy from a national chain, only 14-43 percent of the money you spend touches people locally.

With the local business, the benefit goes further because we use an Albuquerque accountant, a local ad agency and purchase things for the shop at local businesses ourselves.

On Small Business Saturday, small, independently owned businesses sold $12.9 billion on that day with purchases from 43 percent of adults in the U.S. Statistics show that if every family in the United States spend $10 each month with a local business, that would bring in $9.3 business to the local communities.

Keeping a business going is difficult, and 25 percent of local businesses fail because of a lack of sales or cash flow problems. The main culprits are the big box stores that attract people with lower prices and online buys where people are lured by ease of shopping without leaving their couch.

Another statistic that’s hard to ignore for the health of our home is that small businesses donate 250 percent more than large businesses do to local charities and causes.

But small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. Although each business is small, together the small businesses employ 47.5 percent of the country’s total employee workforce. 

That’s a huge impact.

Of those employees, 56 percent of the workers in locally owned businesses are satisfied with their jobs and are committed to the company. Compare that with the satisfaction scores for national chains of 38.7 percent.

With all these benefits to the local economy, what is it that is the main thing that drives shoppers to the local businesses? It’s the businesses different products, according to 61 percent of the consumers in a recent poll. At Uptown Bride, we shine in our different lines we carry, something that sets us apart from any shop in New Mexico. We couple that with our award-winning customer service, something you can see from polls calling us the best bridal shop in New Mexico (Best of NM Weddings) to the national accolades from The Knot, being named the Best for four years straight now.

Check out our reviews and you’ll hear what other local brides think of our service. That should give you the reassurance that we’ll be here for you and are committed to making sure that our New Mexico brides have the service and dresses they want to see at a price that works for their budgets. Uptown Bride is here for the long haul and would never close our doors on our brides the way other national chains have done in the past. We’re your neighbors and know that keeping you excited and interested in what we offer is what will help us continue and, by our business, support Albuquerque and New Mexico.

And you can be sure that we’re going to be here to support you as you go through your wedding planning. We can refer you to several local wedding vendors (other local business owners like us). As a local team, we can help you have the perfect wedding you’ve dreamed of having for years.

So next time you have a choice, think about what your buying will do for your home. Think about what it will do for your friends and family as well from the benefits to the New Mexico infrastructure. Think about a local charity you admire and how it’s being helped more by our being in business. You have control of where you spend your money, make it make a statement and help out!

Thank you for supporting our local business.