Comments on: Santa Fe Buy Into It! – Response to SF Reporter http://santafechamberblog.com/santa-fe-buy-into-it-response-to-sf-reporter/ News about business in Santa Fe NM Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:54:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Shannon Murphy http://santafechamberblog.com/santa-fe-buy-into-it-response-to-sf-reporter/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Shannon Murphy Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:55:00 +0000 http://santafechamber.wordpress.com/?p=44#comment-7 Simon, to say that a chain generates $13 in local spending that <i>would not be spent locally without the business in the community</i> 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 <i>loss</i> to the community ($45 minus $13). Only in cases where items are purchased at a chain that <i>cannot be purchased at any locally owned business</i> 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. 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.

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