Going back to basics, what is a Truly-Local state of mind? Let’s review one of many elements that comprise the Truly-Local mindset.
Truly-Local shopping isn’t just a nice thing to do to show local spirit. Truly-Local shopping in the future may be the difference between whether a community grows economically or withers on the economic vine.
Shopping Truly-Local isn’t the same as just shopping local, all shopping isn’t created equal. Truly-Local is described as “locally owned and operated.” This can, in rare cases, include National chains that are locally owned.
With the increase of out-of-town owned businesses and online shopping opportunities, many local governments are finding it increasingly more difficult to make their local fiscal budgets stretch to cover their basic needs. In fact, many are already in severe financial straits.
The term 'unintended consequences' could very well have been coined to convey the situation many communities find themselves in today or will find themselves in the near future. The courtship of big boxes and chains might be viewed as a necessary evil that communities must attract to appear viable. But might this strategy in reality, be a trojan horse allowed to enter your community, under-cutting the financial fabric of our community?
By bringing these big boxes and chains to the community, it can initially create some low-paying service sector jobs. It might help increase the quality of life for some residents and it can provide a greater variety of goods and services we all enjoy. But is the price worth it over the long haul?
While the benefits can be great, we must realize this also comes with high risk. The greater the saturation of big boxes and chains, the greater long term economic risk to our communities.
One might ask, how can this be?
Very simply, the more money each of us spends with these out-of-town owners, the bigger the drain on our local budgets. A greater percentage of those dollars we are spending leave our community, never again to return.
Studies show dollars spent at locally owned businesses are three to seven times more valuable as they are re-circulated multiple times throughout the community in lieu of being sent to some far-off corporate headquarters. Those same dollars spent with nonlocal businesses leave our community and no longer are able to fund our police, fire departments, city government, water department, road department, parks & recreation, and so forth.
Bottom line, fewer locally spent dollars equate to fewer or less than desirable services.
How can communities move forward sending their dollars to Wall Street in lieu of growing their own Main Streets?
As is the case with most things in life, it is all about balance. Having these big boxes, chains, Wall Street, and out-of-town owned businesses can initially be beneficial to the overall growth of a community. The bigger issue arises when communities in their haste vigorously court these big boxes, chains, and Wall Street organizations at the expense of organically growing their local business base from within. We must not forget that small businesses, mostly locally owned, employ the majority of all workers across the country. We must attend to that base as well.
Communities must find the resolve to expend equal attention and resources on their local business, innovation and entrepreneur base. Nurturing their startups will ultimately create the balance to weather the pending economic storm clouds of retail, along with the rapidly shifting shopping habits that are changing right before our eyes.
With the rapidly shifting retail and consumer habits, it is imperative that communities have these critical conversations. It is also critical they find ways to stimulate local entrepreneurship and innovation. It is imperative they find ways to keep a greater percentage of their consumer spending Truly-Local.
Additionally, while we will discuss this in future columns, the younger generations have a whole new mindset. This mindset leans toward a more experiential economy where it isn’t about sameness, but about making dining and shopping a unique experience. The fastest way to being unique is to avoid the sea of sameness that comes with National chains and embrace the uniqueness of local. This spells Truly-Local in every sense of the meaning.
These aren't just nice discussions to have; the economic and vital future of every community under 50,000 is in danger of slowly being dismantled by the winds of economic change. While the answers may vary by community, we can be sure of one thing. Wall Street cares little about our communities unless of course, when it can extract more local dollars that boost their bottom lines.
The future of our communities are certainly in our hands, and our hands only. Whether we win or lose tomorrow will be determined by the hard decisions we make today. Hopefully our communities will make those decisions based on long-term growth and not just short-term satisfaction.
— John A. Newby, author of the "Building Main Street, Not Wall Street " column dedicated to helping communities combine synergies with local media companies allowing them to not just survive, but thrive in a world where “Truly Local” is lost to Amazon, Wall Street chains and others. His email is: john@360MediaAlliance.net.
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May 24, 2021 at 05:12PM
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NEWBY: What is a truly-local state of mind? - The Pioneer
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