The Valley’s struggling economy would no doubt get a boost if people spent more, but a coalition of local businesses is promoting a recovery plan that’s not so interested in how much consumers spend.
For Local First Arizona, a better economy involves where that money is spent.
The group has launched a campaign to change consumer habits by getting residents to shift 10 percent of their spending from national to local businesses. The change would keep more money in the economy and promote a better civic culture, Local First executive director Kimber Lanning said.
The initiative is based on a study in Grand Rapids, Mich., that found a 10 percent shift of that area’s 600,000 residents would result in 1,600 new jobs, $130 million more in the local economy and $50 million in local wages. The numbers are for a single year.
“The public has the ability to improve the economy and grow jobs simply on how they choose to spend their money,” Lanning said.
The first push of the Shift the Way You Shop campaign will focus on promoting awareness of businesses along the Metro light-rail line. Lanning said many people still aren’t aware of how many local businesses are tucked into shopping centers close to places they’re probably already going.
To help raise awareness, Local First launched a web site that lists businesses within a half-mile of the 20-mile Metro line. The site — http://m.shiftarizona.com — includes a mobile version so smartphone users can look up what’s around stations as they take the train.
Lanning owns two businesses in Phoenix and said Metro helps bring her customers on the weekend. She thinks passengers would spend more time around light-rail stations if they knew more about local businesses.
The newness of so much Valley development has led to more chain stores here than many large cities, she said. It’s also changed the culture.
“People love Chicago and partly because they love the local businesses, and they come here and they throw that out the window and wonder why they don’t feel so connected here,” she said.
Unlike Lanning, Peter Sterling thinks chains play the same role here as in most any other place. Sterling, president of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, said chains have so much power to draw consumers because of their deep pockets. He used to work at an international advertising agency and said some companies spent tens of millions of dollars on research into everything from consumer habits to the color of doormats.
Local businesses have to find their own niche to survive the bigger competitors, he said. But he said groups like the chamber and Local First also have to promote how shopping locally can help the community.
“Here especially in Mesa, we more than most cities have to rely on sales tax revenue. We don’t have our primary property tax so that requires our residents to think about the impact of their spending. So the first thing they have to think is spending in Mesa is better because that’s sales tax for funding our police department, our fire department,” Sterling said.
Qiana Shaw said a large number of customers at her Pappa Maize gourmet popcorn shop want to support local businesses and ask whether she’s local or a chain new to the area. Shaw said a big part of her marketing is that the downtown Tempe shop is locally owned. Shaw said she frequently asks about ownership even if she visits another city.
“I look for things that are locally owned because I like to get the flavor of the city I am in,” Shaw said. “I am a lot more aware now that I am in my own business.”
Local First Arizona also points to research in Grand Rapids that found for every $100 spent at a local business, $73 stays in the local economy. Only $43 stays in the local economy when the same amount is spent at a non-local business.
Lanning said the prominence of national chain stores in the Valley may have reached a peak. She pointed to the $97.4 million worth of incentives Phoenix offered to CityNorth, only to see a fraction of the $1.2 billion project constructed. Political support is dwindling for incentives to developments that involve chain stores, she said, just as the public is showing more interest in local restaurants and shops.
Lanning said support for Local First is strong, citing its 16,000 social media fans and 2,000 members.
“People are often shocked to hear that Local First Arizona is the largest business coalition in North America,” she said. “They say, ‘Why?’ It’s because we needed it.”
• Contact writer: (480) 898-6548 or ggroff@evtrib.com
TruthSeeker posted at 2:19 pm on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
I love riding the light rail; however, most of the stores I've seen in the Tempe section are undesirable for my shopping. I've seen several India-themed strip malls and lots of lean-to shelters for the homeless. Luckily, I don't have to get off the light rail in these areas. They are very run down. Just like the disasterous flea market store that inhabited the former Mervyns on Main Street, they need to clean up the area and make it safe before I will step outside my vehicle, even during the day. Pull the weeds before you plant the garden.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 3:03 pm on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
The premise sounds so win-win and plausible but unfortunately, the East Valley demographics weren't considered. There is a huge Mormon citizenship that buys most of their food stuffs from Mormon stores. Then there is the huge Senior Citizen contingent who scrape by on Social Security or Food Stamps who barely have enough money to put 3 meals on the table the whole month. Who's left ???
The Local Arizona egg producers have priced their eggs $1.00 more than the chain store eggs. The local milk producers have done the same thing, a gallon of local Arizona dairy milk is always $1.00 more than the chain store milk. The same for the local bread maker and the local potato chip maker...$1.00 more than the chain store brands.
Do we see local producers or local super markets along the "Light-rail zone"...heck no. They are in the ritzy shopping centers in the ...."burbs"....no in the center city areas.
Farmer's Markets are wonderful places to shop for the freshest and tastiest produce and baked goods but the prices aren't cheaper than the chain stores. So why would an elderly shopper pay $2.00 bucks to buy a bus pass and wait out in "triple digit" tempuratures to pay more for food than just going to the local supermarket and getting similar food cheaper ???
As for the reference to ...."smartphone users"....let's have a little ..."reality check" please. Senior citizens can't afford ...."smart phones" for one and if they could most of them couldn't manipulate them or even see what's on the screen...so scratch that idea.
It's wonderful to be physically and financially able to "taste the flavor of a city". But reality rears it's ugly head and when you live on a "limited" income as a great many East Valley Citizens do.....then you are less concerned about "flavor" and more concerned about "substances". Just being able to put something, anything, flavorful or not, on the table...anything at all.
Accuracy posted at 3:30 pm on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
“Shift the Way You Shop campaign (local consumer push) will focus on promoting awareness of businesses along the light-rail line.”
Then call it the "TROLLEY DODGERS" in Tempe and Phoenix.
Back in 1911, Brooklyn was a city of trolley cars crisscrossing the town and people were constantly dodging the trolleys to get to the ball park became known as the ‘Trolley Dodgers’. And later the Brooklyn "TROLLEY DODGERS".
supplementalname posted at 1:55 pm on Tue, Oct 18, 2011.
Hey Leon, did you even look at the shiftarizona website? Nowhere does it focus on groceries, and last I checked, there are alot of other people in this east valley besides mormons and retirees that can make it to these places listed around the light rail. Me personally, I'm a working class stiff like most of us out there and I've changed my attitude years ago to support local and always am amazing in service and gratitude given by the businesses I frequent. In respect to everyone that tries to make our local economy better, Kimber is doing an amazing job at education and broadcasting this view to the masses. The cause can use your help, Leon, so glance through the website and find a local merchant that can make your xmas shopping easier! Quit being such a negative nancy and consume already!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:45 pm on Fri, Oct 21, 2011.
X-mas shopping = what's that ???
With the $40 a month extra SRP charge to pay....the fake Christmas tree is going to gather a little more dust in my closet.
I'll make a few dozen tamales to give as gifts. When you live on Social Security..."food" is what matters. So I give tamales and some one gives me a bit of fruit cake or some cookies, not much but it's still Christmas.