The Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce and the Plant City Times & Observer have partnered to launch a new campaign to boost the local economy and keep consumers’ dollars focused on independent businesses.
The physical elements of the new Buy Local program include promotional materials to remind shoppers that every dollar spent locally makes an impact. Any Plant City business (not only those within the Chamber of Commerce) can obtain and display these materials: window decals, posters and a digital logo. The logo can be used on websites or in email signatures, as well as in businesses.
Although many towns and cities across the country have adopted Buy Local campaigns, Plant City’s campaign logo features a secondary slogan: “Quality Grows Here,” a nod to the area’s rich agricultural history.
“We want that (logo) to be a major brand, an icon, and recognizable,” said Yvonne Fry, a leader of the Chamber of Commerce committee organizing the campaign.
The campaign will be emphasized between October and March, to include the holiday season and Florida Strawberry Festival, the two times each year when Plant City businesses tend to generate the most revenue.
But, members of the committee hope that long-term effects of the program will have an even greater impact.
“This is a way we can have a stake in helping preserve what we love about Plant City,” Fry said. “We’re all in this together. Whether you’re downtown, whether you’re out by the interstate, whether you’re south of town, we’re all Plant City.”
Fry is the president of Fresh Picked Talent. Seven other businesses also stepped up as sponsors so the promotional materials could be available to the community for free. One of those businesses was Poppell Insurance Inc., owned by Mark Poppell.
“If everybody in Plant City, or any town, would concentrate spending their money in their community, then the community would be richer as a result of it,” Poppell said. “Local businesses do more than conduct business — they also employ people; they contribute to charitable events.”
Poppell compared the local economy to a pocket. When the pocket has a hole in it, money can fall out and be lost forever — like when dollars are spent outside of the community, he said. But if the hole is sewn up, the money stays inside, just like when consumers shop locally.
“If we all support one another, then we’re all richer as a result,” Poppell said. “But, if we don’t, and we lose local business, then we really only have ourselves to blame.”
While Poppell was in Bend, Oregon, last April, he noticed that local businesses were displaying stickers that read, “Make Local Habit.” The stickers reminded him of a local business campaign the Plant City Chamber of Commerce launched 15 years ago.
“We abandoned this, and we need to get back to it,” Poppell said.
“Of course, it didn’t have the traction that it can today, with social media,” Fry said.
But she, Poppell and the other committee members decided to revisit and relaunch the idea this fall.
In addition to boosting the local economy, Fry said the program would support the success of the chamber as its own organization.
“Every organization struggles to remain relevant, vital and important to its membership,” Fry said. “This is something that we feel is integral to that.”
Business owners can pick up free window decals and signs at the chamber’s next contact breakfast, scheduled for 7 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the Florida Strawberry Festival Charlie Grimes Family Agricultural Center, 2508 Oak Ave., Plant City. Stickers to be used on receipts, with gift wrap or for other similar purposes are also available for a small charge.
BY THE NUMBERS
$65 — For every $100 spent at an independent business, an average of $65 supports local economy. At a big-box retailer, only $34 stays local.
70% — Local business generates 70% more local economic activity per square foot than big-box retailers.
150 — National chains can decrease opportunities for jobs. One study found that a new Walmart reduces an average of 150 jobs in the county where it opens.
50% — Residential neighborhoods near districts of successful independent businesses can gain an average of 50% higher home values than their citywide markets.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.