Inweekly has been dedicated to promoting locally-owned businesses since its inception. We launched the concept of “IN Stay Local” to help get out message on the importance our small businesses. To grow our local economy and preserve the unique character of our community, we must spend our money with locally-owned businesses.
IN STAY LOCAL KEEPS OUR MONEY IN THE COMMUNITY
By Rick Outzen, published 3/18/09
The concept of “IN Stay Local” is simple. To grow our local economy and preserve the unique character of our community, we must spend our money with locally-owned businesses.
We are fortunate to have local alternatives to meet nearly all of our needs. We don’t have to give our dollars to the national chains and “Big Box” stores.
STAY LOCAL HELPS
The benefits of letting our dollars stay local are significant. Dollars spent with local retailers have three times the impact on the local economy as dollars spent with the national chains. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city and county services through sales taxes, invest in neighborhood improvement and promote community development.
Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, estimates that if residents of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties shifted just 10 percent of their spending at stores from chains and other non-local retailers to locally owned businesses, it would generate over $82 million annually in additional economic activity for the two counties, including more than 900 new jobs.
Locally-owned businesses also give much more back to the community. Read the list the sponsors of most charity events or look at who has made the donations to the silent auctions. You won’t find Target, Best Buy, The Gap or Home Depot. Instead you may see The Fish House, The Global Grill, Jewelers Trade Shop or Aragon Wine Market. Local businesses care more about what happens here and see the community as more than another profit center.
STAY LOCAL INCLUDES SERVICES TOO
In “The Bid War” (Independent News, Feb. 19), we wrote about the struggle to get city and county government to use local engineers and architects for its projects. From 2004-2008, Escambia County paid $30.7 million to its top engineering and architecture providers. Out-of-area firms received $15 million of those contracts. A City of Pensacola advisory committee is recommending that a Birmingham firm design the new downtown public library.
Many local firms are laying off people while local officials give business to firms without a presence in the community or any interest in our future.
Fortunately, there is some movement among the elected officials to change this course, and the engineering community has been meeting to formulate a plan to help the smaller firms compete for a portion of the local government business.
It’s not just engineering and architecture firms that are competing with out of town businesses, however.
“I know several businesses in town that have chosen out of market advertising agencies and printers instead of staying local. Local printers are cutting back hours with the slow down while people send their printing out of town,” says Chip Henderson, owner of Pensacola advertising agency Emagination Unlimited. “This is bad for Pensacola.”
Allstate Employer Services, headquartered in Pensacola, faces competition from out of town firms as well. “AES is a relatively young company in the PEO industry,” says Addie Taylor, Account Executive at AES.
“And as with individuals, businesses can tend to gravitate towards large national names or brands. While these companies offer the same types of services, the quality of service may not be as comprehensive or personal as a local company can provide,” she says.
STAY LOCAL CARES
The Independent News is locally owned. We know that with a few more advertisers that we could expand our coverage and have a greater impact on the community.
We would love to be a 48-page paper with two or three more investigative reports and news articles every week, but it’s advertising revenue that fuels that.
Since 2004, the IN has given back to the community. We’ve helped raised over $350,000 for local charities. When Springfest fell apart, we stepped up and put on the Hawkshaw Music Festival, an outdoor music festival on Pensacola Bay that honored our military.
But it’s more than that. When a mentally ill inmate dies in the jail or when we see our tax dollars wasted we have to write about it. We live here and care what happens, regardless of our profits.
STAY LOCAL CAN GROW
But we aren’t the only ones who care about this community. When we decided to launch “IN Stay Local,” the paper sent out emails and letters asking locally owned businesses to participate. The response was nearly overwhelming, and we know that we only have a small portion of our local businesses listed in this issue.
However, this issue is a start. With the help of Coco Design Associates, we are developing a website, INstaylocal.com, to serve as a resource on locally owned businesses that can grow as more businesses join the movement.
We are working with several business owners to form an alliance of locally owned businesses that will help further promote the value of shopping with local retailers. We hope to have an announcement about that group very soon.
The Fish House and the IN are also partnering to host “Local Flavor Sunday” on The Fish House Deck on Sunday, March 22 from 3-6 p.m. There will be music, food and drink specials and an opportunity to mingle with local business owners. The Fiesta of Five Flags will be there selling commemorative granite pavers for a memorial monument to be unveiled this summer in Plaza de Luna at Palafox Pier.
“Stay Local” makes too much sense to ignore. It preserves the unique character and culture of our community, creates jobs and invests in the overall well-being our area. Please join this movement and make Pensacola your business.
For more information on locally owned businesses, visit instaylocal.com
rick@inweekly.net
LOCAL ALTERNATIVES
SECRETS TO SUCCESS
LOCAL DIRECTORY
Stay Local Spotlights:
CONSERVATIVE APPROACH WORKS
HELPING LOCAL FARMERS
UNIQUELY PENSACOLA