For those of you who can afford it, I think this is a great idea:
Cindy Baxter began the 3/50 Project in March 2009 to help save the brick and mortars our nations was built on. She has put into practice a very simple idea. Pick three independently owned businesses and spend a total of $50 each month at these stores.
Consider these noteworthy statistics:
If half the employed population spent $50 each month in a locally owned independent businesses, it would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue.
For every $100 spend in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures.
For every $100 you spend in a national chain, only $43 stays in the community.
For every $100 spend online, nothing comes home.
Can you think of three independently owned businesses in your community?
For additional information on the 3/50 Project visit http://www.the350project.net.
I like the idea but I’d rather be assured that the money is going to a pinko commie liberal like myself. Most of the small business owners in my area are operated by these local board of commerce junior achiever blue ribbon panel airheads who have actual framed pictures of George W. Bush on the wall and Rush Limbaugh piped in on the radio.
Lambert Strether’s solution is to have an entirely left-oriented business model, a sort of internet market space that for a certain fee will give likeminded lefties a place to conduct commerce. Naturally, righties wouldn’t want to participate or wouldn’t be allowed, not unlike the local board of commerce blue ribbon panel fascists’ attitude toward lefties. I rather like the idea but it hasn’t taken off yet.
My closest grocery store is run by a guy who has two Foodtown stores. He made an agreement with a local farmer in western NJ and offers their produce as it becomes available. Always the best corn. Great tomatoes. Great peppers of all kinds.
He made an agreement with a Brooklyn Italian bakery (he is Italian) to deliver fresh bakery bread (oh, the sesame braided large loaf!!!!) every day out here in northern NJ, and it is to die for. He offers about to expire produce at reduced prices, as well as day-old bakery goods.
He gave some great recipes.
If he’s franchised does it count as local?
I’d kill for a grocery like that one Jawbone! I’m stuck with Publix and Kroger or a long ride to Whole Foods (other side of the county). There are two “roadside stands” in summer for veggies, so I go there. Those are nice places to get food basket gifts, too.
We have a wonderful independent bookstore and a couple of small restaurants that are good. I also patronize a local beauty salon for hair cuts. Another excellent habit to acquire is local thrift stores.
I wish they hadn’t chosen a name so similar to the website that explains anthropogenic global warming so well, and talks about the necessity to get atmospheric CO2 down to 350 parts per million.
Also too, I’ve been out of work long enough that I’m not buying anything but food.
My car was totaled early last month. I’ve been paying through the nose for a rental and shopping for a new car.
Cash for Clunkers apparently removed all the good cheap used cars from the market. So the only decent cars left will cost a bit more and that means I need financing. I’m getting the loan from the community credit union.
The CU loan officer tried hard to push me into getting something from Car Max. I balked at their overpriced stock and the restrictive maintenance warranties they offer. We have a great auto shop in the neighborhood. I want them to help me select a good car and then do the work on it once it is mine.
Now that I have declined to shop at Car Max and insisted on using the local shop (also a member of this credit union no less) to select and maintain the car I purchase, the credit union is dragging it’s feet about processing my loan. I’m all for shopping locally, and stunned that I have to fight our local credit union to do it.
Once I’ve got another car and my budget restabilizes, I need to see what I can do to shake up our credit union and remind them to get back to supporting local businesses as the are chartered to do. Since it’s a local matter on a local scale, maybe it will be possible for my lone self to make a difference.