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Local First, a subset of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), is an organization that provides support and sustainability to local, independent businesses through tools and resources, such as workshops and opportunities for business owners to share best practices, ideas and network with each other.

Local First has been in the West Michigan area since 2006 and is a regional chapter. It is the second largest chapter in the country with the largest Local First chapter located in Arizona which is a statewide chapter. Of the 800+ members of West Michigan’s Local First, about 10 to 15 of those members are in optical.

Hanna Schulze, the educational program coordinator at Local First West Michigan, has been involved in the organization for three years. “We have two major facets to the organization. The first is consumer education, teaching people who are buying products and that supporting local creates growth within a community. The second facet is that we set up community facing programs that bring light to local shops and teach business sustainability to independents.”

The benefit for smaller retailers is the added aid that not everyone might have in their budget. “Opticians have a lifestyle product,” Schulze said. “Not everyone has the budget for that. Local First helps get the message out about local businesses such as optical by providing branding and a stamp of recognition for locally owned businesses.”

Although Local First is an independent organization, there are over 150 similar “buy local” organizations around the country, and there are many ways for independents outside of Michigan to get involved. “Most of these organizations are part of the BALLE network,” Elissa Hillary, executive director at Local First said. “You can find out if there’s one near you by checking out the website belocalist.org/localist-community.”