What if we all spent just 10% more at home?
A simple shift in where Nova Scotians spend their money could move more than $3.1 billion a year toward local and Canadian businesses. Here’s what that could mean for communities across the province, in plain numbers.
Ready to make the shift? Use this buying guide to find union-made goods and services, Canadian products, Nova Scotia producers, farmers’ markets and other useful directories.
The idea, in plain terms
Every Nova Scotian household spends money on groceries, clothes, home repairs, transportation, services, and other daily essentials. That money will be spent either way. The real question is where it goes after the sale.
If households in Nova Scotia shifted just 10% of their annual spending toward Nova Scotia and Canadian businesses, about $3.12 billion a year would move in that direction. That estimate is based on average annual household spending of $65,774 across about 474,283 households, with Nova Scotia’s population estimated at 1,090,852 as of April 1, 2026.
This is not just an old “buy local” message in new wrapping. Nova Scotia retail trade reached about $2.0 billion in June 2026, up 0.9% from the month before and 8.0% from June 2025. Food and beverage stores accounted for $1.989 billion in sales from January to June 2026.
At the same time, household budgets remain under pressure. In July 2026, food prices in Nova Scotia were up 2.8% from a year earlier, while average weekly wages across all industries were up 3.0%. That is one reason this discussion still matters now.
Not all dollars do the same job
A dollar spent at one business does not have the same local impact as a dollar spent somewhere else.
Research commonly cited in local multiplier studies shows that when a dollar is spent at a big chain store, only about 13.6 cents stays circulating in the local economy. When a dollar is spent at a locally owned business, about 52.9 cents stays local through wages, local suppliers, services, and reinvestment.
That is the basic idea behind the 10% Shift. It is not mainly about spending more money. It is about spending the same money differently, so more of it keeps working here after the sale.
What a 10% shift looks like in your town
Using population figures and average household spending, here is what a 10% shift could mean for selected Nova Scotia communities and for the province as a whole. These figures are estimates meant to show scale, not exact local accounting.
| Community | Population | Households | 10% Spending Shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Breton Regional Municipality | 93,694 | 40,737 | $267,940,398 |
| Truro | 12,954 | 5,632 | $37,045,061 |
| New Glasgow | 9,471 | 4,118 | $27,084,589 |
| Bridgewater | 8,790 | 3,822 | $25,137,107 |
| Yarmouth | 6,829 | 2,969 | $19,529,159 |
| Antigonish | 4,656 | 2,024 | $13,314,945 |
| Nova Scotia | 1,090,852 | 474,283 | $3,119,552,150 |
For a town or small city, even a modest shift can mean more local payroll, more work for nearby suppliers, and more money recirculating through the community. For the province as a whole, it would not solve every economic problem, but it is large enough to matter.
Where money leaks out
Nova Scotia already buys more from outside the province than it sells outside the province. That means a large share of spending power leaves the provincial economy each year.
International trade gap: $8.7 billion a year
Nova Scotia imports about $15.6 billion in goods from other countries each year, while exporting about $6.9 billion. That leaves an international trade gap of about $8.7 billion a year.
Interprovincial trade gap: $5.9 billion a year
Nova Scotia also imports about $14.6 billion a year in goods and services from other provinces, while exporting about $8.7 billion back. That leaves an interprovincial trade gap of about $5.9 billion a year.
Together, that is about $14.6 billion a year
Put those two gaps together, and Nova Scotia is bringing in about $14.6 billion more in goods and services than it sends out. A 10% shift would not close that gap on its own, but it would help steer more everyday spending toward businesses more likely to keep money circulating in Nova Scotia and Canada.
Yes, chain stores employ local people
Chain stores do employ real Nova Scotians, and that matters. Those wages are part of the local economy, and any honest argument should say so clearly.
But wages are only one part of the dollar spent in a chain store. Much of the rest goes to head-office profit, outside suppliers, national purchasing systems, and investment decisions made well beyond Nova Scotia.
Locally owned businesses also employ Nova Scotians. The bigger difference is what happens after the sale, where the profit lands, where supplies are bought, and where reinvestment decisions are made.
That is why ownership matters. A paycheque may circulate locally either way, but the broader economic benefit is usually greater when the business is rooted here, and more follow-on spending stays closer to home.
Source note
Figures on this page are based on Statistics Canada household spending data, 2021 Census community populations, Nova Scotia Department of Finance 2026 population estimates, and local multiplier research commonly cited from the Vancity and Civic Economics study. Community figures are estimates meant to show scale rather than exact community-level accounting.