What’s Thriving Even In This Economy? Local Business

My online friend Jack Schultz has a great newsletter. Here’s the Archive. He’s a voice for small town America and the small business owner.

I will be posting some of his comments.

Here’s another one… Local Business

Demand is exploding for locally grown and made products–which means more support for mom-and-pop stores. The dividend: For every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $68 comes back to the community. Only $43 recirculates from national chain stores.

The “buy local” ethos has its roots in the farmers markets movement: There are almost 5,000 farmers markets across the country, the result of more than 5 percent annual growth for the past five years, according to the Department of Agriculture. Nearly 60 percent of consumers say they try to shop at a farmers market. Wal-Mart and Safeway recently added “Locally Grown” sections to their produce departments, and the USDA launched a “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” marketing campaign.

Those local growers who can create a customer base (and have them pay a membership fee in January for the right to “pick their own” fresh food in the Summer will be able to avoid the low costs of wholesaling to middlemen and benefit from a mid winter cash flow injection in the form of membership fees. This is more about the willingness to market than agricultural skill.