What Will We Tell The Children?

Recently, yet another study has emerged that shows the impact on a local economy of buying at an indie, local business is roughly four times the impact of shopping at a box store- depending on what type of establishment.  One of the more interesting things to come from this study was the fact that local retailers return an average of 52% of their revenues back into the local economy, while chain retailers only return about 14%.  Restaurants are even more remarkable.  If you go out for date night to an indie local restaurant, they'll recirculate approximately 79% back into your local economy, while chains average around 30%.

So the above paragraph is impressive, yes?  I mean, it shows that you, resident of Yourtown, Wherever can really and truly have an impact on your town and its quality of life by choosing wisely where you spend your money.  Heck, it got me so excited I went out to my favorite New Albany running store and clad my family in the best running shoes for their foot types.  Hey, everyone DID need new shoes, and though we're on a tight budget, we are overall spending much less money than pre July 1, 2012.

Yeah, I'm overly proud of these shoes...

But no matter how much this makes sense to me, and how much I preach the value of buying local and indie (always with the caveat that if somewhere has an inferior product or crappy customer service, you do NOT have to patronize them solely because they're local), have you ever tried to explain this to an almost 9 year old and a 6 year old?

I've tried, and that went over like medium rare filet mignon at a vegan convention.

Bear in mind, my strategy has been that we try to find a local option first and branch out from there.  So, for example, if we wanted pizza, we'd try an indie local pizza joint.  If there wasn't one, we'd buy a locally owned franchise pizza joint.  But, we have a ton of eateries that are both in New Albany;  so, I've not had to make this decision.

REAL mozzarella.  

At least thrice weekly, and sometimes more, I'm having this conversation:

Kids:  Mommy, we want Subway.
Me:  Subway's not local.
Kids:  So?
Me:  Well, more of the money we spend goes out of the area, rather than helping our fellow community members by supporting them and their businesses.
Kids:  ...
Kids: ...
Kids: ...Little Caesar's?
Me:  Not local.
Kids:  McDonald's?
Me:  Not local.
Kids:  WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US???
Me:  FINE.  Hing Wang it is.

Hing Wang is one local eatery that all four members of the family- and presumably also the dog- can agree on, mostly because they have noodles and dumplings.  They're seeing a spike in business from our house on nights that we need a quick dinner, despite warnings to the kids that they'll turn into noodles if we eat it any more often.

But in all seriousness, trying to explain what the New Albany 365 experiment is and why we're doing it to two elementary school aged children has proven to be one of my biggest challenges.  Of course, when they go to Grandma and Grandpa's, all bets are off and I'm pretty sure they take a tour from Burger King to Taco  Bell to WalMart to Toys R Us...but most of the time, they're living this with me, and they are fighting it.

I can only hope that as they get older, they're able to better understand what I did, and why I did it, and though they may not embrace it wholly, if I've caused their buying as teens and adults to shift even 20%, I've had a positive effect on whatever communities they decide to call home.  That's a better reward than some imitation cheese pizza that filled a temporary need because it was cheap and readily available.

Right?

My 365 day journey starts tomorrow, July 1, 2012.

What journey?  Well, I am going to  attempt to make as many of my daily purchases, entertainment, food, groceries, etc for my family of four from independent, local businesses in New Albany, IN as I can for 365 days, and anyone that would like to follow along and encourage, comment, jeer, vex, pontificate, advise, admonish, make suggestions, or tease is welcome to share their thoughts.

I live in a city that has a population of about 36,000, and in the past five years, we've come a long way in our journey to become the city we want to be...and we've got a ways to go. Part of the efforts to help our city grow and become a vibrant, thriving environment for its independent and local businesses has to come from education of both our business owners and our community.   There are thousands of reasons why it's important to buy from your independent and local businesses- and if you've never really thought about it, I'm going to link you right here , for starters.

But we have a year to educate, and I don't want to overwhelm you on the first day- heck, the day before- the journey even starts.

So let me start out by saying this from the beginning:  I will fail, and I will probably fail hard and often.

Perhaps that shouldn't be the beginning, but I do want to that to be very, very clear.

One of the challenges to start with is that there is no agreed upon definition for 'buying local'.  Even 'buying independent' is somewhat fuzzy and slippery.  Starting out, our definition of independent business is going to be one that is built from the ground up by someone in our community. They receive no outside funding for advertising and marketing, and a large portion of their business if they do have multiple locations is still done in our defined area.   A local business is similar; but, we would also include some franchises that are also owned and operated by people in our community.

Even with those, there's still the regional challenge.  I can buy from an independent business in Jeffersonville, IN, or Louisville, KY, but still not be buying local.(Or hell, am I?)  Which becomes more important?  Do you simply buy from independent sources, or also local sources that may or may not be independent?  If there's nowhere to buy what you're looking for, then what?

I've been thinking about all of this for many months.  Starting out, I think the process will go something like this:

Can I get it at an independent business in New Albany?
Can I get it at a local business in New Albany?
Can I get it at an independent or local business in the surrounding communities?
Is there a more 'regional' business where I can get it?
If I can't, can I get it at a box store that at least employs people locally?
If I can't, do I buy it online?

Those may be the questions to ask, but what's the reality of life?  Life may state that we need something, but our independent businesses are not open.  I know myself:  I am very impulsive, and my impulsivity is rarely confined to traditional independent business hours or locations.

At the end of one year, I'd like to know what we CAN get from independent, local, and regional sources.  I'd like to know how much impact one family can have on a local economy.  I'd like to know what percentage of buying can reasonably be expected for others in the community, and how much effort they'd need to dedicate towards making that happen.

So...let the journey begin.