Regarding “Local-Washing” in the Santa Fe Reporter.
The idea that the Santa Fe Chamber has co-opted the term “shop local” is beyond absurd. Part of the mission of the Chamber is to “grow the local economy.”
The organizers of the Santa Fe – Buy Into It! campaign did not “decree that any business located in Santa Fe was “local” but rather that all business activity in Santa Fe benefits the local economy through job- and tax-revenue creation.
EVERY single local business creates tax revenue, allowing local government to exist. Every business pays rent, payroll, taxes and utilities locally. Where a business is headquartered is irrelevant to their contribution to the local tax base.
Whether a business is a local “mom & pop shop” or part of a larger, national company has no bearing on the overall economic impact that the business has on our community.
A business named The Santa Fe Shop can be owned out of state. The Santa Fe Reporter is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Similarly, a nationally known brand can be franchised by local Santa Feans. Many local people own shares and derive income from national companies. These kinds of divisions serve little or no purpose.
Santa Feans depend on national companies for tax generation, needed products and most importantly, jobs. Jobs create incomes which are then spent locally regardless of the ownership of the company. This spending generates further jobs and incomes. Thus the economic multiplier.
It is true that some of a national chains profits go out of town, but often this is as little as 5% of revenues. Payroll, rent and utilities frequently equal 90% of revenue which stays in the community.
Shopping in Santa Fe helps support public safety, education, roads and sewers.
Suggesting that a national business “strip mines the local economy” serves only to divide the business community and place ideology over economic reality.
To deride Santa Fe businesses that may have out of state ownership or be a part of a larger, national company, perpetuates Santa Fe’s perceived anti-business sentiment.
The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce is proud to represent all local business and to partner with the City of Santa Fe and the media partners who have generously stepped up to support the Buy Into it campaign.
Santa Fe – Buy Into It!
One Response to “Santa Fe Buy Into It! – Response to SF Reporter”
Leave a Reply
Simon, to say that a chain generates $13 in local spending that would not be spent locally without the business in the community is flat-out incorrect. Again using the Austin study figures, if I spent $100 on products at a chain that I could otherwise get at a local business (for example, buying groceries and household products at Wal-Mart instead of at Kaune), it would result in a $32 loss to the community ($45 minus $13). Only in cases where items are purchased at a chain that cannot be purchased at any locally owned business does your statement hold true.
The primary value of buy-local campaigns is that they educate citizens about that $32 gap, and encourage them to, when they have a choice (i.e. when buying items available at both chains and locally owned businesses), to choose the option that keeps the most money in the community. This, unfortunately, is where the Buy Into It campaign fell short of really serving
Santa Fe.