Doing business locally saves us all in the end
By Wyatt Emmerich
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 3:37 PM CDT
The lady on the other end of the phone line was convinced of the righteousness of her position.
“We need to start a grassroots effort to get people to shop in their neighborhood stores,” she said. “If people just did 20 percent of their shopping in the privately-owned neighborhood stores, not one of them would go out of business.”
“People think they are saving money by shopping in the big box stores, but they’re not,” she added. “The dollars that people spend with local businesses stay in their communities and come back to help that community. If we all shop with each other, the money stays in the community instead of going to some corporate office and millionaire owners or their heirs. We need to retrain the way people think about shopping.”
Amen, sister.
As publisher of the Northside Sun it should come as no surprise to anyone how strongly I feel about the importance of independent stores and businesses. I don’t shop in big box stores.
Time is money. By the time I drive, park and hike through the huge parking lot and long aisles of the big box store searching futilely for what I need, I have already lost any possible cost savings.
But it’s not just about the money.
I have this dread of living in a monotonous, uniform world where all the stores and restaurants in the community look the same. It is scary how some shopping strips in California look identical to those in Maine. How dull. How drab. Is this where we are all headed?
Independent, privately-owned shops and businesses are the lifeblood of our country. This is where our employment growth is generated. The big corporate chains reduce people. The small companies hire people.
Yet we flock like lemmings to the big box stores, falling for their feel-good TV ads while they trick us with loss-leader pricing.
I don’t eat at chains. Every restaurant I go to is locally owned. They’re better. They’re unique. They have heart and soul.
Perhaps I am tilting at windmills, as our country generates new chains by the week. Perhaps people want every street in America to look just the same. But I bet not.
In fact, it is the more affluent areas of the country where you see the greatest number of specialty boutiques catering to our desire for individuality. The greatest restaurants in any city are all independent and privately owned. I believe the mass chains will one day give way to our cravings for individuality.
Technology will pave the way for individuality. Thirty years ago, only a huge chain could afford the satellite network that would allow for precise inventory control. Now all you need is an Internet connection and off-the-shelf bar code software.
Independent merchants can join buying cooperatives, pool their resources, and get the same discounts that were once only attainable by the big box stores.
My company is part of Page Co-op, a cooperative of hundreds of independently-owned newspapers throughout the country. Our combined buying power matches that of the largest newspaper chains, allowing us to purchase newsprint for the same price as the big boys. These same trends are occurring for the independent retailers.
So don’t be so sure you are automatically getting the best price just because you walk into a cavernous store. Over time, the big chains naturally take on corporate overhead and become less efficient. The bigger the company, the more bureaucracy.
Another awful policy is the exemption of the sales tax for out-of-state online purchases. Sales tax is one of the biggest funding mechanisms of our state and local government. Our small retailers help pay a huge portion of this. Yet our state lawmakers give out-of-state Internet retailers a free ride at the expense of our local stores. That’s a downright shame.
The lady on the phone is right. We need a grassroots movement to get people to shop at our local stores and use locally-owned services. Why get tires at the big box store when you have a competitive independent tire shop manned by folks who live in and contribute to your community? Why? Let’s think about this folks. We want our communities to be strong economically, but we allow our precious local dollars to get sucked out to Chicago and New York without a moment’s thought.
It gives me great pleasure to write something positive about our state Legislature. Lo and behold, they actually passed a bill stipulating that law enforcement officials must acknowledge when a crime occurs.
That means if a murder, rape or burglary occurs on your street, the police have the obligation to tell you about it.
Before this new law, police could keep crimes a secret, under the catch-all exemption of “being under investigation.”
In reality, the huge majority of law enforcement officials are open about crime reporting. But some were secretive, to the detriment of the public’s right to know.
The new incident reporting law requires law enforcement to release the basic facts of a crime. This is a big step forward, especially for newspapers who have sometimes had to fight for basic crime information. I can tell you that in Jackson, over the years, getting crime reports has not always been an easy task.
The Mississippi Press Association, of which I am a board member, has been struggling to pass a crime incident law for years. It was not until we anted up and hired a top notch lobbyist that we got our bill passed. You get what you pay for. Congratulations to Northsider Hayes Dent in that regard.
The last two weeks in April and the last two weeks in October are the finest days in Mississippi. The April days are two months before summer. The October days are two months before winter. These are the days to really enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.
I have often commented that Mississippi has the perfect weather. We get the full range of seasons, yet enjoy mild weather. If you could just somehow get rid of mosquitoes and lop one month off summer, life would be perfect.
This past weekend, Ginny and I attended a small catered birthday dinner party for Stewart Speed, one of our best friends. Accompanied by Tom and Beth Black, we surprised Stewart by pulling up to his place on Lake Lorman in his pontoon boat while he and Erica were having a drink under their gazebo which sits on a promontory jutting into the lake. He couldn’t figure out what was going on.
As we cruised around the lake and watched the sun set, it was hard to imagine a more ideal environment on the planet. Madison County is a real pastoral paradise. As it grows and gets better transportation and amenities, Madison County will become one of the finest places to live in the country.
We are indeed lucky.
Wyatt Emmerich is president of Emmerich Newspapers.
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