1. Local stores know their customers and their products.
When Carol and Jim buy jackets and skis for the season, they've got you in mind. They know the Toledo customer. When MC Sporting Goods buys jackets and skis for the season, they're thinking about national sales goals, buying patterns in the Midwest, loss leaders, and how the skis will sell next to that badminton set.

2. Chain store employees are basically Dick's.
Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. But with the turnover of employees, massive scope, and impersonal nature of, say, a Dick's Sporting Goods, it's nearly impossible to build a relationship between a customer and an employee, or even better, the store's owner. At a locally owned shop like, say, Mountain Man, Jim and Carol can be found there most days. Like most locally owned shops, they have strong relationships with a huge number of customers.

3. Money spent in Toledo, stays in Toledo.
According to the Corvallis Independent Business Alliance, "a locally owned independent business returns approximately 80% of each dollar spent back to the community." They also point out that a dollar spent at a local business will return five times that amount in the community through taxes, employees' wages, and purchase of materials and supplies at other businesses.

Look at it this way. We can all start shopping online at BigBoxSuperSkiDeals.com. It'll be awesome. We'll save, like, nine dollars* on that bike, and we won't have to pay tax. Okay, sure, we won't have roads or schools for our kids or social services or anything, but seriously? Nine bucks? That's a lot of money to save.

(*$10 shipping)

4. Local stores make for a richer, more diverse community.
Toledo has a very different regional culture than San Francisco or Schenectady. And within Toledo, there are tons of different styles, tastes, and opinions. Big box stores are hoping, fingers crossed, that all consumers are the same, and that everyone who wants a fleece jacket will want a size medium black North Face Denali jacket. They offer little in the way of options, and most times there's no accounting for taste.

5. Big Boxes are trying to starve me.
Okay, I needed a header. But seriously, for every two jobs a national retailer brings to a community, three jobs are lost as a result of local businesses closing down. Local businesses support the communities where they operate. They put food on my table and buy me an XBOX 360 and all kinds of awesome games. Like today, when I get paid for making this website, I'm gonna go buy Madden '10. It's gonna be so awesome.