Shop Local Statistics: Why Independent Hardware Wins

"Shop local" gets said so often it can start to sound like a bumper sticker. But the shop local statistics behind the slogan are surprisingly concrete — and once you've seen them, the phrase stops feeling like sentiment and starts looking like arithmetic. Here's what the data actually says about small businesses, independent hardware stores, and where your money goes when you buy a box of screws.

Small business isn't a niche — it's the economy

Start with scale. The U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy counts roughly 34.8 million small businesses nationwide, and they account for about 45.9% of private-sector employment — close to half of everyone working in the country. The SBA also credits small firms with roughly 43.5% of U.S. GDP.

That's not a rounding error on the edge of the economy. Nearly one in two private-sector paychecks in America is written by a small business, and a lot of those businesses look exactly like the hardware store on your Main Street.

They create the jobs, too

Small businesses don't just hold jobs — they generate them. SBA Advocacy attributed about 2.6 million net new jobs to small businesses in a single recent year of data. Looking further back, federal figures credit small firms with roughly 20.2 million net new jobs from 1995 to 2023, which works out to about 61% of all net job creation over that stretch.

When a local store adds a weekend cashier or a full-time counter person, that's this statistic happening one hire at a time — in your zip code.

There's a quieter line item behind those jobs, too: the property and payroll taxes a storefront pays. That money funds the roads, schools, and services the same customers use every day — which is why an empty building on Main Street costs a town more than just a place to buy nails.

The shop local statistics on your dollar

This is the number that changes behavior. Research by Civic Economics has repeatedly found that spending at local independents produces roughly $45 in additional local economic activity per $100 spent, versus about $14 at a national chain. The American Independent Business Alliance frames the same finding as independents recirculating close to three times as much of each dollar into the community.

The reason is structural, not moral. Local owners hire locally, bank locally, and pay other nearby businesses for services. A chain routes most of that money to a headquarters somewhere else. Same purchase, very different afterlife.

Hardware, specifically

Narrow the lens to our own industry and the picture stays strong. IBISWorld pegs the U.S. hardware store industry at roughly $44 billion in annual revenue, spread across on the order of 13,000 to 14,000 establishments — an industry defined by lots of modest storefronts rather than a handful of giants.

Demand is there, too. The Home Improvement Research Institute found that nearly 80% of U.S. homeowners planned maintenance or improvement work heading into 2026, with about a third intending to increase what they spend on it. With higher mortgage rates keeping people in the homes they already own, more households are fixing up rather than moving — and every one of those projects starts with a parts list.

People already believe in this

Public sentiment isn't close. Survey work consistently finds that roughly nine in ten Americans say small businesses have a positive impact on the country, compared with well under a third who say the same of large corporations. The instinct to support local is already there — most people just need the reminder before habit sends them somewhere else.

You're not giving up selection to do it

The old objection was that local meant limited. Not anymore. Through National Hardware Group, independent stores reach a catalog of 100,000+ products — the depth of a national chain, delivered by a neighbor who can tell you which item is actually right for your job. You can browse the range and still keep the multiplier working at home.

So the trade-off the numbers used to imply has quietly disappeared. You get the product, the expertise, and the local return — all in one trip.

What to do next

You don't need to overhaul your habits to act on these shop local statistics. Just move one purchase. Buy the filter, the fastener, the gallon of paint at the independent down the street instead of defaulting elsewhere. Multiply that by a neighborhood, and the numbers above stop being national abstractions and start describing your own town.

Ready to put a dollar to work close to home? Find a store near you and start there next time.

The data all points one direction: shop local, support independent hardware, and keep your community's money doing its best work at home.