There is a localization movement going on in America, and you just may be hearing about it. “Buy Local” and “3/50 Project” are popping up in cities across our great nation, and the recent “10% Shift Happens” in the Lowcountry of South Carolina are all examples of how local communities can rally together to preserve their locally-owned stores, business and restaurants.
For every dollar spent locally, Hartsville benefits by providing jobs for our neighbors and property taxes that assist our schools. It also ensures the future quality of living that we currently enjoy.
The connections that you build with local small business owners has a certain quality that you cannot recreate by driving out of town, using a non-local business or purchasing something online. The exchange of money for a product or service is the same, trading dollars is the same, but the overall feeling is different.
Take a moment. Imagine your favorite local independent store, business or restaurant, and think of some experiences you’ve had there. Maybe the store owner greeted you with a smile and remembered your name. Remember a happy day that you ate a meal with your loved ones to celebrate a birthday.
Think back to a time you saw your local physician outside of their office and they asked how you were, or recognized the person that performed a service in your home out with their family. Those personal connections are what make living in a smaller city so special.
If you buy food from a local farmer, for example, you are purchasing food that you know where it was grown and not sitting for days in a truck wasting gallons of fuel to get to you. The dollars you exchange for your locally grown food went right to the source, and immediately made a difference for someone that you share a zip code with.
My hometown of Bath, Maine, is employing the 3/50 project at many businesses. The nation wide movement asks consumers to imagine the following:
1. Pick three locally owned stores you’d miss if they disappeared, then return to them. Say hello. Pick up a little something that will make someone smile. Those purchases keep those businesses around.
2. If just half the employed US population committed to spending $50 in locally owned stores each month, it would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. Imagine what would happen if 3/4 of them did that.
3. For every $100 spent in locally owned stores, $68 returns to the local economy through payroll taxes, property taxes, sales tax, payroll, and other business related expenditures. When purchasing from a chain or franchise, that amount drops to $42; if it’s spent online, nothing comes home.
Here in South Carolina, the Lowcountry has their own idea of “10% Shift Happens”, asking local citizens to shift 10 percent of their income to local banking, clothing purchases, groceries, household spending and more to strengthen the economy of the home that they love and cherish.
People from all socio-economic levels here in Hartsville are feeling the effects of a tough economy, and all thinking of ways we can save money. There is a committee forming to come up with a local effort to have a Hartsville based localization movement, and it’ll be a way we as neighbors and friends can band together to remind others to shop locally.
As we enjoy the rest of summer, let’s make a personal challenge to take the extra time to find what we need for products and services here at home. It makes sense economically, and it just makes you feel better, too.
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