Consumers urged to shop local amidst cost of living crisis

"Shopping locally doesn't just help the business owners - it helps their staff and their suppliers. It has such a ripple effect and that's something that's not always realised," said Dubbo Chamber of Commerce president, Errin Williamson.

"Local businesses are the ones that are supporting the local sporting teams and supporting local events as well, making sure we have a fun city to live in."

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In June, the inflation rate rose to about 6.1 percent, the highest it's been in 21 years. Supply chain interruptions due to flooding, the COVID-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine pushing up global oil and gas prices have all led to increasing costs for goods and services across Australia.

A Consumer Pulse survey by CHOICE last month revealed 23 percent of households were struggling to get by financially - up from 18 per cent at the same time last year - and 90 per cent of the more than 1000 respondents said their bills had increased over the past year.

With so many people struggling to pay their bills and buy groceries, local consumers are becoming more frugal, said Ms Williamson.

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The sectors that have been hit the hardest include hospitality, retail and entertainment - all of which were slowly crawling their way back to life after the pandemic.

"[The cost of living crisis] is making sales quite sluggish for a lot of businesses that aren't necessarily essentials. People are more conscious of what they're spending their money on," she said.

"It's really important to support those industries because if you support it then it gives people that incentive and that confidence to keep bringing stuff like that to Dubbo, which creates a better lived experience for people in Dubbo in general."

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On top of decreasing foot traffic, Ms Williamson said the same price rises that have been hitting the hip pocket of consumers - like higher energy bills, fuel prices and food costs - have also been hitting businesses.

While she hasn't heard of businesses in the area having to bump up their prices to cover those costs, she said it would "make sense" if it happened in the future.

"We haven't really seen businesses passing on these costs to the consumer yet but it would make sense for them to do so, they can't carry these kinds of costs, eventually they have to put the price of goods up," she said.

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