WHY BUY LOCAL?
When you buy local, you’re not just buying a cup of coffee – you’re building a community.
Welcome to We Love Delta, the go-to resource for local attractions, day trips, and shopping in Delta, BC. Whether you live here, work here, or are just visiting Delta for the day, we have a lot to offer – from farm hops and ale trails, to hiking, biking, birdwatching, and beaches.
Delta is known for its relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, with a unique blend of quiet urban streets, farmland, waterfront, and lush, green parks. Our main streets offer the kind of service and selection that local businesses specialize in – whether you’re picking up ingredients for dinner, browsing for a book or gift, or viewing the work of local artists and artisans. There’s plenty of opportunity to sample the area’s bounty in one of our local restaurants, cafés, pubs and craft breweries.
We’re easy to get to – at the crossroads of highways, ports, rail lines, and the Pacific Ocean, Delta acts as a major transportation and distribution hub for the region, with the Tsawwassen ferry terminal at our western tip, and two of the largest industrial areas in BC running along our northern edge.
SHOPPING LOCAL MAKES DELTA A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE - FOR ALL OF US
When you support local businesses in Delta, you’re creating a ripple effect that keeps our community strong and helps it to thrive.
Whether you live, work and play here – or you’re just visiting Delta for the day – shopping at local businesses makes an economic and social impact that reaches deep into our community.
Local businesses shape our streets and give us places to gather and connect – over a latté at the local coffee shop, birthday cake at your favourite restaurant, or with a bouquet from the neighbourhood florist.
We’re the deli owner who knows what your favourite sandwich is, the hardware store that gives your teenager their first job, and the homebuilder that sponsors your baseball team. Local business is about relationships, and the places that make Delta a great place to live. When you shop local, you’re not just buying a book, a meal, or a new set of tires – you’re building a community.
Your local purchase supports a network of local businesses and families
When you make a local purchase, you’re supporting everyone that business supports. Your dollar is reinvested over and over again, in wages, taxes, and other local purchases.
When you spend $10 locally, $6.30 stays in our community.
But when you shop with a multinational, only $1.40 stays in Delta.
Behind each business is a network of other businesses and suppliers who rely on your dollar for their livelihood. When you order a meal at your local restaurant, you’re supporting the farmer who sells them fresh produce, the server who showed you to your table, the print shop that designed the menus, and the person who cleans their windows.
Thriving local businesses hire other locals, from your friends and neighbours, to the more than 18,000 workers in Delta’s industrial areas. In turn, those employees invest their wages back into Delta when they make purchases at the local grocer, dentist, or car repair shop.
Local businesses help pay for our parks, schools, roads and services
When your dollar goes into the cash register of a Delta business, it helps to pay the property taxes that fund our parks, pools and playing fields – along with the trails and beaches we all enjoy. The taxes from local businesses help to pay for the schools where our children learn, the police and fire services that keep us safe, and the roads that get us from A to B.
Delta businesses pay 46% of the property taxes that fund services
in our city.
Local shopping helps to reduce our carbon footprint
When you buy a locally made or grown product, it means that your purchase was mostly manufactured, processed, or grown in BC. It traveled a shorter distance to get to you than an imported product, was subject to local environmental regulations, and usually contains some – or all – locally sourced materials.
Locally grown or made products can result in a greenhouse gas reduction of up to 66% compared to imported products.
Locally owned businesses make more local purchases, and generally locate themselves for easy access to customers and employees, reducing the amount of transportation required to reach or supply them, and their overall carbon footprint.
Local business offers service and support year-round
Since 2020, shoppers have become more aware of the importance of local businesses: for supply, service, and support. Local business owners are willing to go the extra mile. We see the person behind the online shopping cart. It matters to us that you get your gift on time. We’re willing to search for the special order that will make your day.
We’re there for the everyday emergencies: when your car won’t start, your furnace quits, or you need ten more screws to finish your deck. And we step up to support you when you need a donation, a sponsorship for your team, or a scholarship for your school. To us, you’re not a stranger, you’re the reason we come to work every day.
Local businesses donate up to 24x more per dollar of revenue to local events, teams, and charities than multinational companies.
Look for local wherever you are
Local business doesn’t just live on our main streets; it lives online, on our farms, in our industrial parks, and in offices and studios across our community. Shopping local is about making a choice to look for Delta products and services wherever you are.
It isn’t hard to find them – our local growers, makers, manufacturers, and service providers have reputations across Metro Vancouver and BC that make us proud. Delta is home to some of the region’s most productive agricultural land, and two of BC’s largest industrial areas: Annacis Island and Tilbury Industrial Park.
Our industrial areas employ more than 18,300 people. If you live in Delta, you know a family that depends on them for their livelihood.
The next time you’re selecting produce at the grocer’s, looking for a service or quote, shopping at a chain store – or online – look for local. Visit the offices, studios, showrooms, and shops of Delta businesses off the beaten path, and in our industrial areas, to see what they offer.
Looking for things to do in Delta? You’ll find ideas for outdoor adventures, shopping and dining on our Delta Day Trips page. Download the We Love Delta passport onto your phone for mobile access to more than 25 adventures!