Local businesses need our help now more than ever. Sam Feldman, a founder of the FARM Institute in Katama and a Vineyard resident, wants people to recognize the importance of shopping locally, and supporting our friends and neighbors through their businesses.
With the help of some friends, Feldman organized a “Buy Local” campaign, which has already delivered dozens of signs to Island businesses.
To correspond with the signs that read “Buy Local” in storefronts, the campaign will also be sending out bumper stickers to each and every Islander with a Post Office box or mailbox in mid-January.
Lauren Lynch, an Islander who helped coordinate the effort, said Feldman “loves Martha’s Vineyard to his core,” and it’s also in his nature to constantly want to help people. “I think seeing all the closures of stores around has been really hard for him,” Lynch said.
Although there are already several active initiatives with similar goals, Lynch said Feldman wanted to do something to make people even more aware of the importance of supporting the Island economy.
“Edgartown has their buy-local campaign, along with the Chamber of Commerce. But Sam wanted to really get in there with businesses and the community, and strengthen that connection,” Lynch said.
Feldman reached out to his friend, Barry Rosenthal, a former Islander who has a background in advertising. Rosenthal helped with the design for both the bumper stickers and the signs.
Once the design was finalized, Lynch said she started working with Tisbury Printer founder and owner Chris Decker to print the signs and get them out to businesses.
The team of community members also reached out to Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School director Peter Steedman, to see if he might want to implement the initiative as a school project. Steedman “was so enthusiastic about having the kids go around to stores and distribute the signs, so we have been coordinating together to execute this really cool and important project,” Lynch said.
According to Lynch, every store owner and employee she has talked to while delivering the signs has been supportive and excited about the project.
“I think businesses feel like they are being supported even more when there is this private person who is actively helping to promote them,” she said. “This pandemic has put so many people in a really tough position, and Sam really just wants to support the community in any way he can.”
Lynch said she is “constantly amazed” by the togetherness and close-knit nature of Martha’s Vineyard, and it makes her proud to live here. “This community is not afraid to take matters into their own hands and do what they can to help each other,” she added.
Feldman said he originally saw an article in The Times about Leslie’s Drug Store in Tisbury being forced to close (the store is slated to remain open into 2021 after talks with investors).
He was worried what such a deeply embedded, cherished Island institution closing its doors would mean for our home.
Feldman called Tami Conroy of Conroy’s Apothecary in West Tisbury, and she told him that the pharmacy business has changed dramatically in recent years, and even more so during the pandemic.
“[Conroy] said more and more people are getting their prescriptions online. It has really affected the financials of their business — so much so that it is almost a marginal operation, because the cost of pharmacists is so high,” Feldman said.
Feldman noted that the concern lies with large business conglomerates and chain stores with “a lot more financial staying power” that aren’t as heavily affected by the economic downturn COVID-19 has caused. “The independent pharmacies and other businesses are really struggling, and the Vineyard is no exception to that,” he said.
At first, Feldman proposed his idea for a buy-local campaign to Rosenthal, his old friend and past partner in grassroots campaigns like the “Mopeds are dangerous” initiative, which distributed thousands of bumper stickers denouncing mopeds on-Island.
Rosenthal designed the stickers for that campaign as well.
“I suggested we have stickers and signs that say ‘Buy Local,’ but Barry said we should have them say ‘I buy local,’ to have them correspond with the signs in store windows,” Feldman said.
So while stores have signs that say “Buy Local,” customers will receive “I buy local” bumper stickers to represent the connection between community members and businesses.
Feldman thanked Lynch, Rosenthal, Decker, Steedman, and all the other community members, including young students, who helped out with the project.
Now that signs are posted prominently in many Vineyard storefronts, Feldman said it is almost time to send out more than 17,000 bumper stickers to Islanders.
Although shopping on-Island might be more expensive in some cases, Feldman said it is necessary to support the “businesses, the culture, and the ethos of Martha’s Vineyard — a place where we all help each other.”
He said vacant stores lining the main streets of Island towns, in his opinion, would indicate the failure of the community to support each other through trying times.
“Every dark, empty store window is a cause for concern,” Feldman stressed. “To me, it all goes hand in hand with waving to people from across the street, saying hello when you walk by someone on the sidewalk, and giving the other car some consideration when they want to get out of a driveway. It really lets you recognize that we are one Island, and we all have each other’s backs.”
Michael Wexler of Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury said the shop has been the epitome of a local establishment ever since it opened its doors in 1858. “I believe we are the oldest retail store on the Island, and if there is anything we support, it’s buying local,” Wexler said.
Wexler noted that Alley’s carries a high proportion of locally sourced goods, and takes pride in supporting other Island businesses through its commerce. “It’s also in the hearts of all our customers, that mentality of supporting each other. I think the people here already do a great job of supporting local business, but any reminder or encouragement of that is very helpful,” Wexler said.
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December 29, 2020 at 03:08AM
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'Buy Local' campaign supports Island businesses in crisis - Martha's Vineyard Times
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