Why Local Business Is the Heartbeat of the Central Valley

I have spent years walking into businesses all over Bakersfield and the Central Valley. Family restaurants, barbershops, landscapers, taco trucks, repair shops, you name it. Almost every one of them is somebody's dream that they built with their own two hands. That is what this valley runs on. Not just oil and agriculture, though we are proud of both. It runs on local people betting on themselves and serving their neighbors.

I want to talk about why that matters, and why supporting each other might be the most important thing we can do for our economy.

The money you spend here can stay here

When you spend money at a local business, most of it stays in the community. The owner pays local employees, buys from other local suppliers, pays rent to a local landlord, and sponsors the little league team down the street. Studies of independent businesses have found that for every 100 dollars you spend at a local shop, around 45 dollars keeps circulating right here at home. Spend that same 100 dollars at a chain and only around 13 dollars stays.

That difference is not small. It is the gap between a dollar that comes back around to your neighbors and a dollar that gets wired off to a headquarters in another state. When we shop local, we are not just buying a product. We are keeping our own community working.

Local businesses are the ones doing the hiring

People sometimes think the big companies are what hold up the economy. The numbers say otherwise. In California, small businesses make up 99.9 percent of all businesses and employ close to half of the entire private workforce. Across the country, small businesses have created the large majority of new jobs in recent years.

Here in Kern County, where unemployment usually runs higher than the state and the country, that matters even more. Every local business that opens its doors and hires a few people is doing real work to lift this valley up.

Joe'll Chaidez talking with a local food truck owner in Bakersfield — There is a real person behind every local business. Getting to know our neighbors is the whole point of what we do.

We have seen it work right here

You do not have to look far for proof. Downtown Bakersfield has been coming back to life, and local businesses are leading the way. Since 2020, the city's downtown grant programs have helped more than 55 businesses and put over 2.2 million dollars back into the hands of local owners. New shops keep opening in the revitalized blocks around 18th and O Street, places like The Botanist, and you can feel the difference when you walk through.

Here is the part I love. When one business opens up and does well, it lifts the whole block. That block lifts the neighborhood. The neighborhood lifts downtown. One brave owner taking a chance ends up creating opportunity for everybody around them. That is the ripple effect, and it is real.

What this means for the Central Valley

We are an agricultural powerhouse. Kern County is one of the top farming counties in the entire country, and we grow and produce a huge share of the nation's food and energy. But the businesses that make this place a community, the ones you actually live next to, are the local ones. They are the connective tissue. They are where you get your coffee, fix your truck, cater your wedding, and cut your kid's hair.

If we want the Central Valley to keep growing, we have to keep those businesses strong. The good news is that we can. Supporting local is something every single one of us has the power to do.

How we support each other

It does not take much. Here are the things that genuinely move the needle for a local owner:

Spend local when you have the choice, even if it costs a little more. You are investing in your own community.
Tell people. A word of mouth referral is worth more to a small business than any ad they could buy.
Leave an honest review online. It takes two minutes and it helps the next customer find them.
Be patient and be kind. Most of these owners are doing the work of five people.

At Central Valley Advertising, this is the whole reason we exist. We help local businesses get seen by the people right here in their own backyard, because we believe every business deserves a fair shot and somebody in their corner. We are not an internet company. We are your neighbors, and we are rooting for you.

So let us keep supporting each other. When local business wins, the Central Valley wins.