According to Google, “A local business is a company that sells goods or services to a specific community or region. Local businesses are usually small and family-owned, and are typically located within the boundaries of the community they serve.” We include businesses that were started/founded in the Cape Fear Region, and that may have grown to be a corporate entity, large, franchise, or multi-location business.

As of January 2025, we’re covering the entirety of the Cape Fear Region and some of the surrounding areas. This includes but is not limited to New Hanover , Brunswick, and Pender counties. We are also accepting listings for Bladen, Columbus, Duplin, Onslow, and Sampson counties should it be applicable. We are working on ways to best support further out areas.

At this time, we’re not requiring certification of local ownership as this can be difficult to prove. A good rule of thumb is that if you have your state-filed documentation, you know your business owner personally, or no one else works for your business name, chances are you’re pretty local.

We are exploring ways to “certify local” in 2025 and will be sending notices out to our directory members once this is available!

Although we are currently only supporting a small list of classifications like “minority owned” or “queer owned,” it’s our intent to expand this list based on feedback from our community. Please continue to provide feedback to us on what you’d like to be able to sort by.

A major part of this project stemmed from the desire to find businesses that are historically underserved, undersupported, or just down right hard to find. Not only that, but to find a place where you feel comfortable, welcome, and impactful can make the world of difference in spending those dollars conciously.

As of January 2025, we’re proud to offer this site free of charge. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost money to run or that it isn’t time consuming.

That said, we’re looking for ways to monetize in the future to offset the cost of running the site and providing resources. However, this would be done with our mission in mind, focusing on keeping dollars where they make the most difference while providing local owners with the ability to market their businesses affordably.

Check out our easy to follow guide here!