Antonio’s Pizza in downtown Amherst has amazing pizza. For such a tiny spot it generates lots of foot traffic, so much so that a few years back the town of Amherst actually widened the sidewalk and put benches in so people lined up for pizza could stand someplace other than the street. It’s an icon of student life ‘- a beacon of delicious, innovative pizza combinations.

Even if Antonio’s isn’t your particular cup of tea ‘- or slice of pizza as the case may be ‘-surely you’ve patronized one of the many other local pizza joints from Amherst like Pioneer Valley or Pinocchio’s.

So why, with such a diversity of local options, did the town of Amherst allow Papa Gino’s to come and set up shop across the street from Antonio’s? It turns out Amherst doesn’t have all the much say in the matter. The building, which is leasing the space to Papa Gino’s, is owned by D’Angelo Real Estate Inc. This means that the town of Amherst has no direct control over who gets to lease ‘- that decision is up to the owners of the property.

My question then passes to the owners of the property D’Angelo Real Estate. Why another chain? Amherst, as well as Northampton and the Valley as a whole, prides itself on supporting local businesses. This is a blatant contradiction to its stated beliefs.‘ Were there no local entrepreneurs who were interested in the space? Were they deemed unworthy?

The answer, most probably, is money. Renting the space to anyone, even a chain, is more profitable than leaving it empty. But it is also a short-sighted decision undermining the integrity of the local economy.

People tend to buy from chains because they are cheaper. Chains with corporate financing are able to offer promotional deals, sales and generally price their items lower than independent businesses. However, the money you spend at a chain ends up being less valuable to the local, regional and, ultimately, national economy.

Simply, locally owned businesses help a town or regional economy more than a chain. This is known as the Multiplier Effect. The Multiplier Effect says that a dollar spent at a local store will stay in the local economy longer. If you spend $1 at Fresh Side or Bruno’s or Antonio’s, that dollar has a good chance of being spent at another local shop, say A.J. Hastings, from there it may be used at the farmers’ market and then may make its way to Amherst Cinema.

That same dollar helps keep three or four business going all the while paying employees who will put money back into the economy. Of course somewhere along the line that money will most likely end up at a chain, probably a grocery store or a pharmacy ‘- or that new Papa Gino’s.

These are known as ‘leaks.’ When you spend money at a chain a small amount goes back to pay the wages of the staff, but most of it immediately leaves the area, going elsewhere to where the chain is headquartered.

Keeping a dollar local has benefits for all, including more part-time employment, more economic diversity and an overall healthier and more stable economy. Strong local economies help to provide the foundation for a strong national one.

Small businesses suffer in bad economies much more than large chains. When hard times hit chains, they have a large cooperation to fall back on. If an individual corporate outlet is pulling in only a mediocre amount of customers, a chain can wait it out. If a small local business experiences a decline, they risk being forced to close. For many small business owners, their store is their only income and they depend entirely on it for subsistence. Depriving local stores of patronage deprives a local family of income.

With all these reasons to support independent business I can’t see the reason for stores like Subway, Starbucks and now Papa Gino’s on North Pleasant Street when there are so many local options that are not only readily available but generally of better quality.

Why should brand name companies be given the best real estate when places like Rao’s, Amherst Coffee and the Loose Goose Caf’eacute; be relegated to side streets? Why does Amherst have so little control over what gets to be in its downtown?

What’s the point in traveling to different regions of the country if it all looks the same, smells the same and tastes the same? Every town, city and region has something unique to offer. Amherst‘s downtown should reflect Amherst ‘- not wherever these places are headquartered.

The Valley for all its talk and bumper sticker support of ‘ ‘buy local’ has a pretty poor record for allowing chains to come into its downtown centers. If Amherst Town Hall can’t, or won, restrict chains residents of Amherst should take action into their own hands and start boycotting stores that hurt the area’s indigenous businesses. As for us college students and the vast market force that we are, we should give a show of loyalty to Antonio’s by refusing to spend our money on the same generic chain pizza we can get anywhere.

Kathleen Broadhurst is a UMass student. She can be reached at [email protected].