Wick-edly Sent has joined a new intiative called the 3/50 Project to encourage shopping locally. This program got its start when Rieva Lesonsky (Consulting Editor at BizWomen.com), wrote a post titled “Support Your Local Small Business”.
Her article sprang from thinking about her own community and she wrote:
“With more and more small businesses on the edge of survival, I’ve been thinking about which three stores I would most hate to see go out of business, and how I can support them with my dollars.”
A woman named Cinda Baxter took this idea and spun it into a national campaign called the 3/50 Project. The premise of this program is:
- Pick 3 independently owned businesses you would miss if they were to disappear. Stop in and get to know the owner(s). Purchase something that you need or that makes you smile. Your purchase will help keep them in business.
- Choose to spend at least $50 locally in independently owned businesses each month. According to Baxter, if half of the employed in the U.S. did this, it would generate $42.6 billion in revenue!
- For every $100 spent at locally owned independent businesses, $68 stays in the community in the form of taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend this money at a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online, and nothing comes back to the community.
- The most important point about this initiative is that every person counts. YOU can make a difference!
In case you’re wondering what we me by an independently-owned business, we define it as:
- The majority of the business is owned by one or more individuals or organizations who reside in or near the community in which the business is based.
- The business operates out of a store front or other brick and mortar type business.
- The business relies on its own name and reputation and is not relying on a national brand name to do business.
- The business is registered only in its own home state.
- The decision-making function lies with the owners.
- The business pays its own rent, marketing and other expenses.
So won’t you please help us save the unique aspects of Canandaigua and the Finger Lakes region by joining us in observing the 3/50 project?
Thanks for your helpl!
P.S. If you would like to join this intiative for free, CLICK HERE to register. You don’t need to be a brick and mortar store to join! It’s open to individuals, companies and organizations and individuals as well.