Saving local business, $50 at a time

MILLERTON — The idea of a shop local initiative isn’t exactly a new one. Since online shopping took off in the late 1990s, or maybe even when mail-order shopping became a craze (and how long ago was that?), the outcry has been that those practices would destroy local businesses, disintegrating the idea of a community in the process. And poor economies, like the current one, only exacerbate those worries.

“I went to Hartford the other day,†recalled Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s, a lampshade and vintage lighting studio in the village, “and I saw so many empty stores. In that regard, Millerton is quite lucky. There aren’t many empty storefronts.â€

But for Schneider and others in the area who feel that an effort must be made to preserve local business, being better off than others isn’t enough. And they believe they have found the answer in a national phenomenon known as The 3/50 Project, an initiative that has grown from an Internet blog site into a local economy rallying cry.

“It’s pretty much one of the simplest and amazing concepts out there,† Schneider said.

The 3/50 Project is an idea developed by Cinda Baxter roughly six months ago. Inspired by a fellow blogger’s post about strengthening local economy by patronizing three local shops a month, Baxter simplified the idea into this basic premise: Spend $50 a month among three independently owned shops of your choosing. As she reports on her Web site, the350project.net, if half of the employed population in the United States were to commit, the movement would generate more than $42.6 billion annually.

The idea begins with a question: What three independently owned stores in your town would you miss if they disappeared?

“After the Taconic [Press] newspapers folded, that’s what woke me up,†said Marti Steed, who owns Steed Real Estate in Millerton with her husband, Ron, and lives in Pine Plains. “Once all those newspapers were gone, I sure as hell missed them. It’s weird to live in a town without a newspaper. I buy The Millerton News every week now.â€

Steed and Schneider were followers of Baxter’s “The Always Upward Blog,†and were intrigued by the idea when it was first posted back in March. Since then, Baxter reported that the site has received “7,500 absolute unique visitors,†and has received coverage in dozens of local TV stations, blogs, magazines and newspapers. The Wall Street Journal even published an article at the end of June reporting that local businesses taking part in The 3/50 Project have experienced boosts in sales.

What makes the movement so interesting is why it has risen to prominence so quickly when there have been plenty of other shop local initiatives that, while surely helping businesses in the area, haven’t produced the raw results Baxter’s project has.

The Tri-State Chamber of Commerce, for example, is in the middle of unveiling its new shop local initiative, which chamber President and Treasurer Susan Dickinson explained was conceived after reading about The 3/50 Project.

“We thought it was a great idea, and it was a great opportunity to take off from there and get our own twist on it,†she said. “There’s not much of a difference [between the two initiatives].â€

Both initiatives are free for businesses to join, although Baxter will be offering a second tier paying membership to recoup the cost of increased traffic to her Web site. But what caught Schneider’s eye about The 3/50 Project was the simplicity of the movement.

“You see where the money is being traced down,†she said. “I’m not against other programs, but they don’t say why it’s important to shop local and how it works. Here are the dollars, here are the ramifications.â€

Another paradox of The 3/50 Project is the varying interpretations of the movement. Baxter’s Web site clearly outlines her definition of an “independent business,†and those standards exclude Shandell’s and Steed Real Estate, two of the area’s biggest proponents of the movement.

Shandell’s sells wholesale, which according to The 3/50 Project excludes her from the list of businesses to support.

“Those are tough parameters,†Schneider admits, who argues that she is in fact a local independent business. “I have a local store. Everything’s produced locally. I’m local. I do have a handful of places I [do wholesale business with], but I’m not purchasing from China and bringing it in. I have a strong, vested interest in the community.â€

Schneider added that while she hopes heightened interest in shopping local via The 3/50 Project will bring customers to her shop, her involvement in the movement stems from her desire to keep local businesses in the area. Schneider’s own local merchants group, which is organized via her Web site, millertonny.com, supports the project as well and links to the 3/50 Web site.

But really, the shop local attitude is the only common thread holding local supporters of the project together. Steed Real Estate doesn’t qualify, either (there aren’t too many $50 houses out there), but Marti Steed quickly pointed out that she isn’t interested in getting involved in the specifics of Baxter’s project. And while The 3/50 Project supports finding a balance between shopping locally and shopping at malls or online, Steed reported that she hasn’t purchased anything “from a box store since I don’t know when.

“The more [initiatives] the better,†she said, adding that homeowners who can’t afford to pay for a Realtor can still have their home listed on steedrealestate.com for free. “It’s my way of keeping things local.â€

Of note is the somewhat disproportionate number of supporters versus the actual area businesses that qualify (under Baxter’s guidelines) as local independent businesses.

The350project.net lists two categories: one for participants who qualify as independent businesses and the other for supporters who don’t qualify but still would like to spread the word. MillertonNY, Steed Real Estate, Shandell’s and Max Partners Properties, LLC are on the list as supporters; Kamilla’s Floral Boutique and the Hylton Hundt Salon have signed up as participants.

Results directly related to The 3/50 Project are hard to quantify, but Baxter said that the project has “absolutely†been working.

“Business owners tell of long lost customers who return after hearing about [the project],†she wrote via e-mail, “new customers coming in to purchase something who admit they would have been buying from the big box down the street before hearing about the project and customers printing our flyers, then delivering them to businesses they don’t want to see disappear. I have yet to meet anyone who recalls a ‘buy local’ campaign that took off this fast, with this much enthusiasm or garnered such immediate response. It’s a win-win, and a first, in many, many ways.â€

Kamilla Najdek, owner of Kamilla’s Floral Boutique, reported that she has yet to have a customer bring up The 3/50 Project, and the Hylton Hundt was unable to be reached in time for publication, leaving the quantitative effect of the initiative on the area up in the air. But for all who are involved in shop local initiatives, the end result always seems to be the same: keeping the community together.

“It’s about taking pride in what you have and going the extra mile to protect and keep what you have,†said Steed.