Buy Local Campaign More Effective, Boosting Business-to-Business Activity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2010

PORTLAND, ME: A new survey of Portland Buy Local's growing membership shows that the campaign's effectiveness has continued to increase as the effort enters its fourth year.

In addition to influencing consumers, the campaign has also prompted many of Portland's independent business owners to seek out other local businesses for goods and services that they previously procured from non-local providers, the survey found. Read More.

The latest in our series of ads and posters highlighting the diversity of items available at indie businesses here in Portland will be hitting the streets in the coming week.

BUY LOCAL DATE features a romantic Valentine dinner at a local restaurant.

Special thanks to Joan Leitzer and Ken Spirer for lending their time and their beautiful smiles! And also, we are grateful to Local 188 for allowing us to take over their space on a chilly evening in December.

Please join us for the next Buy Local Member Mixer hosted by Furniturea, a local manufacturer of Rural Modern furniture for your home. They offer customized maple furniture in any size and painted any color for reasonable prices, and made right here in Portland.

When: Wednesday, Feb 17th, from 5:30-8pm
Where: Furniturea, 75 Market Street

Buy Local Member Mixers are informal networking and social events for members, friends, and anyone who would like to know more about Portland Buy Local. Come unwind and celebrate with other indie biz enthusiasts, plus get updates on the latest happenings in the Buy Local scene.

All of our 2009/2010 mixers are sponsored by Sebago Brewing Company, which brews in small, 20-barrel batches, using the freshest ingredients available and the clear water of Sebago Lake. Sebago Brewing Company is a proud sustaining member of Portland Buy Local.

To get our new monthly emails with the latest happenings and news on the Buy Local front, please sign-up for the Buy Local Lowdown.

You can also view the latest issues online: December 2009, November 2009, October 2009, and September 2009.

Click for a larger version.

Think you can't buy underwear at a locally owned business? Think again. Underwear and countless other products and services -- from the unusual to the everyday -- are available from independent businesses right here in Portland.

That's the message of our latest ad and poster series, which encourages people to search the Indie Biz Directory to find what they need.

The first ad in this series, Buy Local Morning, appeared in The Bollard and The Phoenix. We'd like to extend a big thank-you to the Emmons family for modeling and to Nathan Eldridge for photography.

Earlier this year, we joined with local business alliances across New England to launch the 10% Shift, an initiative that encourages individuals, businesses, and organizations to shift 10% of their current spending from chains to locally owned, independent businesses.

So far, the response has been great. People love this idea and are finding lots of easy and rewarding ways to make the shift. One person told us that he had moved his checking account to a local bank. Another said she'd decided to spend more of her entertainment budget going to local performances and supporting local musicians and artists. We'd love to hear how your household or business is making the 10% Shift.

This relatively small change in spending patterns can produce a big benefit for the region's economy. If everyone in Greater Portland made the 10% shift, it would generate $50 million annually in new economic activity for the region and create 600 new jobs. (These figures are derived from studies in other cities and adjusted to reflect Portland's size and spending patterns.)

How is it that shifting just 10% of our spending can have such a big impact? One reason is that locally owned businesses buy more goods and services, like printing and accounting, from other local businesses. Studies show that local businesses spend a much large share of their revenue (two to three times as much on average) in the local area as national chains and online retailers do. More money circulating in the local economy means more jobs.