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By Jaedda Armstrong
Where did you get that purse?
Susan Milhoan hopes you bought it from a locally owned small business.
Milhoan is the executive director of Retail Alliance, the region's trade group for merchants. For years, the organization has encouraged shoppers to buy local.
This year, instead of sending out advisory cards to merchants or airing television commercials, the group is pushing for a "buy local" specialty license plate.
"As much time as Hampton Roads drivers spend on the road, the message is sure to get out that way," Milhoan said.
For the General Assembly to approve the measure, the Department of Motor Vehicles must receive 350 prepaid license applications by mid-January.
So far, the DMV has received about 50 applications. Proceeds from the plate's $25 annual fee would help fund Retail Alliance's efforts to raise money for training and grants for small businesses.
Nationwide, more than 120 cities are running "buy local" campaigns in an effort to educate consumers about the advantages of supporting local businesses.
The effort doesn't just help individual merchants - small businesses employ just more than half of the country's private-sector work force, Milhoan said.
Buying locally helps produce more income, jobs and tax benefits for the consumer's community, she said.
For every $100 spent at an independent business, $45 is returned into the area's economy, Milhoan said. That's about three times the amount that comes from spending at national companies, she said.
The flagging economy has given a boost to the movement, said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a Minneapolis nonprofit that promotes local businesses.
"Now more than ever where we spend our dollars matter," Mitchell said.
At the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the hope is that locals prefer goods made by Virginia companies instead of ones that have been processed outside the state.
The state agency promotes items such as ham, candy, flowers and baked goods that have the Virginia's Finest trademark.
In recent years, the buy-local push has helped boost sales on these products, said Elaine Lidholm, the department's spokeswoman.
The demand has helped the number of farmers markets in Virginia to almost double from 88 in 2005 to more than 170 today.
Leona Tam, an associate marketing professor at Old Dominion University, frequently buys at farmers markets and small retail merchants in Smithfield.
The lingering recession is enough reason for people to put their money into the community, she said.
"The economy should make us want to help others," Tam said. "We should help small businesses because a lot of them are struggling with loans and just trying to stay open."
Spending money in locally owned business can help "a neighbor or someone you met at a PTA meeting," she said.
If consumers haven't done it before, they should at least start this holiday season, she added. "The holiday is about giving back anyway."
Staff writer Carolyn Shapiro contributed to this report.
Jaedda Armstrong, (757) 222-5846, jaedda.armstrong@pilotonline.com
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Buy Global Plates too
The only issue I have with buying local is that it costs more. I prefer to follow basic economics - get the best possible product or service at the lowest possible price. I will always shop for Proctor & Gamble products at Walmart, not mom & pop because they charge 300% more for the exact same product. However, I do believe we need government to corale the practices of large scale farms who put 50 cows on top of each other and juice them with roids. We need to make large farms follow practices that produce food that is good for us, not the current stuff making 2/3rds of our nation fat. If large farms compete on a level playing field as small local ones, then perhaps the math will start to work that producing locally under the same conditions will be advantageous because the cost of transporting is less than a corporate farm far away producing with the same practices. There are just some things produced better far away & some things we produce very well that can't be prodcued anywhere else (Tobacco & pot bellied t-party guys) which we can exchange for coconuts and tall liberal blondie girls.
The high cost of cheap living
I would like to address some of the statesments made by alexvb. While some smaller stores, especially convenience stores such as 7-11 do charge a premium for items, most retailers, large or small, have comparable pricing. There is one exception, Walmart. This link may hold some interest for you, http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html.
I own a small, independent business; I sell pet supplies. My prices are, on most items, equal to or lower than the big box competitors. There is a trick used extensively by these big box stores to give the impression that their prices are better. They have cheap looking stores. Walk into one, and it feels like a warehouse. Many people think that a warehouse type store has better pricing, but if you compare apples to apples, they usually don't. I can't speak for P&G products, since I don't carry any, but many independent stores do have comparable pricing structures.
On a much larger note, if you have read the article at the above link, hopefully, you have seen why it is much more important to shop at local businesses. Small business, collectively, employ over half of the working public. Chances are, you work for a small
under one roof and the cost of time
If i had a pet, perhaps i would buy his food the same time as I buy mine and my shampoo. Walmart puts it all under one roof so I get it done in one shot instead of investing one day into driving all over town. If your combinations of competetive prices and convienence of location offer a benefit to enough buyers, you will thrive. but if your prices are low because your selling out of a barn on a back road in pungo, the market may punish you because of lost time. However, if your convienent and prices are close, you will and probably are doing ok. Laws of economy and consumer behavior are much like the laws of nature: gravity, boiling point of water etc - they are universal truths and like it or not, people will comply to them as gravity acts the same no matter where you go. Walmart has location, synergy of all categories under one roof, pricing and most of all marketing. My point is, a license plate isn't really going to help against natural forces. The local guy is going to have to offer a value added or ,just as we put safety nets on high rise projects, government is going to need to step in to level the playing field
And the last part, sorry VP online, I felt it needed to be said
At the risk of being censored by the VP online, this post is longer than the 750 max words and will be continued into another post. It is something I feel needs to be said. I enjoy a good, well thought out discussion, and have been known to change my mind at times, so if you would like to discuss this further, my public email is richard at thepetcastle dot net. I would love the opportunity to discuss this further with you. Thnak you for your cordialness is this discussion.
part 2
The same is true for the $10 coffee maker or the $12 gallon of paint, it is sub standard, cheap. But no one that works there will tell you otherwise. But then there are products, such as your shampoo, that you can get at other stores. Yes, it is cheaper at Walmart, but at what cost? Many of the products once made in America by Americans are now made overseas for pennies a day. Those are lost American jobs. For the companies that can manage to stay in this country, they have had to lay off thousands of workers, and compromise on quality ingredients and materials to keep up with the demand for cheap products. So, that shampoo you buy at Walmart is no longer the same high quality it was when you first started using it. This is a nationwide problem, but one that can only be fixed by supporting your local economy. If my business fails, it is not only myself and my wife that will be affected, but 7 employees will be without jobs as well. That is 9 people that would be added to the unemployment list, subject matter for another discussion.
At the risk of being censored by the VP online, this post is longer than the 750 max words and will be continued into another post. It is somethin
Due to space constraints, my
Due to space constraints, my earlier reply was cut short. I assume you read the article at the link I posted. If so, then you have the information to see the fundemental flaw with Walmart. Walmart is a large part of the problem, however, it is certainly not the only part. Many American jobs have gone overseas due to the demand for cheap items. I know several people who are unemployed due to downsizing and outsourcing, no doubt you know several as well. If Americans spent more time looking at where their products were made and ensured they bought American, there would certainly be more jobs available for Americans. This is true for the local economy as well. Buying from local retailers and other local businesses ensures more jobs in our locality. More jobs equals more money spent in payroll, which equals more money to spend. But there are other consequences as well. I know pet supplies, so I will use that as an example; dog food from Walmart is sub-standard. Most dogs are allergic to the ingredients in dog food-wheat, corn and soy. Most Walmart employees would have the knowledge and expertise to tell you that. It is not their job to know that. The same is true for the $10 coffee ma
Amen.
Keep the money in your community and you will surely prosper. I try to buy and do business with all the locally owned business's aroud my own. They support me and I in turn support them, basic economics.
License Plates
Thatt's the last thing I want anyone to see in this Tidewater area is "BUY LOCAL." I may be somewhere else!!!!