A Future Lancaster campaign
Look Local First PA.
Before you look outside, look here first.
Look Local First PA is a campaign to bring more awareness to businesses in our own communities, starting right here in Lancaster. Before you buy, hire, source, or refer, check whether someone local can do it first.
Support every local business.
Our shops, restaurants, and makers help make Lancaster home, and so do the accountants, printers, designers, and service providers behind the scenes. Looking local first means supporting all of them, whether you're shopping for yourself or buying for your business.
01
Buy local
Choose locally owned shops, restaurants, and makers when you can.
02
Hire local
Work with local accountants, lawyers, designers, printers, and consultants.
03
Source local
Look for suppliers, manufacturers, and partners close to home.
04
Refer local
When someone asks for a recommendation, send them to a neighbor.
05
Invest local
Put your money, time, and support into the businesses building this community.
Shift just a % of your dollars to local.
Small shifts add up. Move even a small share of your spending to locally owned businesses, and the impact ripples outward.
- LancasterMore of your money stays close to home, supporting the owners, employees, and neighbors who make this county work.
- Central PALocal businesses buy from regional suppliers, farms, and makers, so the benefit keeps spreading.
- PennsylvaniaStronger local economies add up to a stronger state.
Pennsylvania
Central PA
Lancaster
Small choices, big ripple.
- Local businesses hire our neighbors and build careers here.
- They fill our storefronts, sponsor our teams, and show up when the community needs them.
- Every local choice keeps more of our money working in the place we live.
- When businesses refer each other, the whole ecosystem gets stronger.
“If I start in the middle of the circle Lancaster and work my way out from there, and everybody increased their local support even a little, it could transform our economy.”
Start with your next purchase.
For businesses
- Before you order online or hire from out of town, check for a local option.
- Tell us who you already work with locally, so we can help others find them.
- Refer customers and partners to other Lancaster businesses.
- Join a community conversation and share what would make buying local easier.
For everyone
- Pick one purchase this week and make it local.
- Share a local business you love and tag @futurelancaster.
- Leave a review for a local business you rely on.
- Ask the businesses you use who they buy from locally.
Locally Owned Lancaster
Make local easy to spot.
We're working with local designers to create a simple window decal and digital mark that makes locally owned businesses easier to recognize in storefronts, online, at events, and anywhere people are deciding where to spend. More to come!