Toolkit Home | Legacy Businesses | Importance
Why are legacy businesses important?
Legacy businesses help to define the shared identity of a community. By definition, they are longstanding businesses, many spanning multiple generations, that retain the history, stories, traditions, knowledge, and bonds that help define the neighborhoods they serve. In some communities, they even become social centers, or third places, where people gather and interact in public. Think of barbershops, card rooms or mahjong parlors, coffee shops, pubs and corner stores. They are known and trusted entities, often helping to define the character of neighborhoods through the products or services they offer, as well as the adornment and style of the architecture or physical space.
Additionally, they are the cornerstones of local economies as they create local jobs and hire local, stabilize local taxes, and according to the Institute for Local Self Reliance, return more money into the community than chain stores by creating local jobs and hiring local, and creating local supply chains and offering local products.
By safeguarding the local culture and economy, legacy businesses strengthen community bonds and foster a sense of place attachment for those who live there. When these businesses are displaced or lost, it can lead to the unraveling of those bonds and a disruption in the local economy.
Big Idea
Third Places
Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg, in his book The Great Good Place, defines third places as informal, social gathering places where people gather outside of work or home. These can be public spaces like community centers or churches, as well as commercial spaces, including legacy businesses such as bowling alleys, pubs, cafés, barbershops, or beauty shops, where people socialize, interact, share information, and build relationships. These third places are invaluable for building community bonds, developing local identity, and fostering a shared sense of place in a neighborhood.
Key talking points on the importance of legacy businesses.
The following are some key talking points you can use for discussing the importance of legacy businesses in your community:
Cultural Preservation
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They connect generations to a shared history and culture.
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Legacy businesses often embody a community’s traditions by continuing local skills or crafts, transferring generational knowledge, and sharing local stories.
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Because they have been in business for so long and have developed a clientele throughout their years of operation, they are cultural resources that connect multiple generations of local residents.
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These businesses serve as social gathering places, promote local music and art, support local events, and act as informal community centers.
Community Sense of Place and Place Attachment
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They foster a sense of place and place attachment, giving residents a shared sense of pride, connection, familiarity, and continuity.
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They help neighborhoods retain their unique character eve n as the neighborhood gentrifies or redevelops.
Economic Stability
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Legacy businesses are community-centric, often family owned, enterprises that help stabilize local neighborhood economies and keep money circulating in the community, as they tend to hire locals and create local supply chains.
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They often provide stable jobs, develop skills, and provide knowledge and mentorship for workers, sometimes across generations.
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They contribute to job creation, reducing unemployment rates and narrowing employment disparities.
Big Idea
Sense of Place and Place Attachment
A sense of place is the combination of cultural, social, and physical elements that help to define a location and make it meaningful to people. Place attachment is the emotional and social bond that “attach” people to an area, often shaped by shared culture, relationships, interactions, and history. Legacy businesses play an important role in establishing a sense of place and place attachment in their neighborhoods. Together, these concepts help define a person’s identity and create a sense of belonging or well-being associated with a location.