The City of Orlando is starting a "Buy Local" program, where stores display stickers in their window saying "Buy Local" and locals get free discount cards. What does "local" mean to the city of Orlando? Not what you think."Under the Orlando program, any company with a location inside the city that pays business taxes to the city can participate — including chain stores with out-of-state headquarters."Local merchant Julie Norris responded to the City of Orlando's effort with a blog post on the Ourlando.com website. Apparently Orlando's program is modeled after Austin's. According Norris, Austin's website directly opposes this, as the Austin program is specifically for locally-owned businesses. Here's a great pull quote:
"Perhaps a more accurate title for the “Buy Local” campaign would be “Buy Anything that lines the governement’s pocket with Sales Tax, to heck with focusing on local independent businesses like the statistics we quote.” Course, that just isn’t as catchy."The current President of Austin's effort responded.
One of the benefits to merchants for registering with the program is a listing on their site. Until they get that up and running, here is our locals-only list to get you started. If we left some locals off, leave a comment here.
I've been traveling the country and have come across several "Buy Local" stickers and posters. Here's a sampling:
Utah | Madison | Columbus
Related Articles:
Eat. Drink. Better.: When Local Isn’t: Deceiving ‘Buy Local Orlando’ Program Supports City Taxes, not Local Businesses
2009 Orlando Fringe: Our Guide | Write reviews | Read reviews | Patron Choice Awards
2 Comments:
As the founder of the Austin Independent Business Alliance (and current president) I can say with absolute certainty that shopping at locally owned businsses is better for your community than shopping at chains. There have been numerous economic impact analyses that prove that point. There is 3.5 times as much local economic impact when you shop at a locally owned business. A shop local campaign should educate consumers about the value of shopping at locally owned businesses. It should not confuse them by pretending that shopping at a chain is "shopping local" or that it somehow helps the community.
Steven Bercu
Unbelievable!
I've posted an article on this over on Eat.Drink.Better -- hopefully will get some dialogue going about what it means to be truly local.
http://tinyurl.com/d9skp2
Post a Comment