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Shop local and help build a stronger Fergus Falls
Published Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Everyone cheers for the hometown team when it comes to sports, but it’s time we cheer for our hometown businesses.
Fergus Falls area businesses contribute substantially to our economy and that includes all businesses in our neighborhoods, from the mom and pops to large manufacturers.
In addition to paying a hefty portion of taxes that support our schools, they give willingly and generously to non-profits such as the YMCA and the United Way.
These businesses also purchase equipment, supplies, and services locally and employ hundreds of people.
Their employees pay taxes, have kids in our schools, give to our churches, buy hockey pizzas and spend money at other stores and restaurants — providing employment for others.
The circle continues as long as we make the decision to keep the dollars flowing locally. Shop out of town (even if it is a good deal) ... and we’ll see less money for the churches, schools and hockey pizzas.
Commerce is a two-way street so store owners and managers must realize that shoppers are mobile and have choices, such as buying online. But if you don’t walk through their doors, you’re not giving them a chance to earn your business. Inventory chan-ges often so if you haven’t visited a particular store lately — stop in, let them earn your business and ask for the items you don’t find.
How will they know what people want if you don't tell them? Businesses that adapt to consumer needs and offer superior customer service will continue to thrive.
As sales volumes increase in our local stores, selection and hours can be expanded — based on traffic flow and customer needs. Shop around and you’ll find the selection you need, save money, plus you’ll be contributing to your Hometown’s future.
In a recent comparison between the Service Food and Hornbacher’s flyers, the difference between 40 sale items was less than $4. Traveling to Fargo would entail hauling a cooler for perishables and paying $2.82/gallon for gas to get there — how much do you really save? Many of their prices had “limit 2” where Service Food did not limit, allowing you to stock up and save.
In addition, the Service Food staff is “over-the-top” friendly, they bag and carry out your groceries and they are a generous contributor to our community.
Out-of-town purchases affect the livelihoods of much more than one person. For example, each vehicle that is purchased out-of-town negatively affects dozens of families in our community.
Dealerships employ technicians, accountants, detailers, service writers, receptionists, auto body painters, office managers, drivers, department mangers and support staff.
These folks earn a living each time a vehicle is sold and then pay taxes, spend money in our community, go to our churches and donate to great causes like Girl Scouts and Lakeland Hospice.
If you purchase out-of-town — do you think their employees are donating to our benefits or churches?
How frustrating it must be for a Fergus Falls business to donate a gift certificate to a benefit and then watch the person drive away in a car with a North Dakota emblem on the trunk.
I’ve lived in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud where you can buy anything. Fergus Falls is by far the best place to shop, live and play.
Sure you can’t buy everything you want in Fergus Falls, but you can buy everything you need — at competitive prices from people who do more for the quality of life in Fergus Falls than a pair of GAP jeans will ever do.
If we want to see our schools, churches and communities to thrive, then everyone — not just business owners — but parents, teachers, assembly workers, farmers, retirees, students, salespeople and business owners — need to make a concerted effort to spend every dollar they can here in Fergus Falls.
Make a commitment to the future of your community — and shop local for everything you can.
Together we will build a stronger Fergus Falls area for everyone to enjoy, one local dollar spent at a time.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by Venti (anonymous) on August 29, 2007 at 1:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here, allow me...
"But Fergus doesn't have any of the products that I want to buy!"
"But Fergus is a great community and if you love and want to support your community you should shop locally."
"But the products I want to buy are always more expensive at our local shops and stores."
"But that extra money goes towards keeping your town and your community alive. Don't you want to help your community?"
"But there's alway a greater variety of products to choose from in Fargo or the Twin Cities."
"But if you shop locally and have a strong local economy we will attract more businesses which will bring that variety here, to your own community. Don't you want to help your community?"
"But I want that variety and those bargains now, while I'm shopping for my children, not while I'm shopping for my grandchildren."
There, I'm glad we got that out of the way.
Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on August 29, 2007 at 1:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard you live on Jewett or Long lake not in Fergus Falls. I try to buy local, many employees need sensitivity training! I am tired of being treated by crabby unfriendly clerks. If I had a business I would jack up some of these workers who act like they own the store. I was told" do not come back to Mcdonalds" because I complained about cold food, which cost us 7.00 This is not how to treat a customer.I realize these rude people are the minorty, but their actions reflect on everyone who works at such business places.Thank you for shopping here is rarely heard also, they need to show appreciation for our business. I looked at a 2500.00 tv at Sears in Fargo, i went to Sears in Fergus, I had arne order the same tv here. I got a Thank you card in the mail a few days later, now that is how to treat your customers! I will not pay more in Fergus, I get the best price or I go elsewhere.
Posted by chipmunk (anonymous) on August 29, 2007 at 2:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's wrong to lump all Fergus Falls merchants into one argument. The good ones will get my business even if I have to pay slightly more, the bad ones will never get my business even if I pay alot less. When I buy any product it is because I need that product, not because of some misguided patrotic effort to support a local business. Merchants should earn your business not simply rely on a guilt trip to get you to buy.
Posted by FungusAmugus (anonymous) on August 29, 2007 at 5:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think most people shop out of town because of price, also I think people are turning to outside businesses because local businesses have lost the arguement of helping out the community, years ago it seemed local business people where actually working in their businesses more than the hired employees, and seemed to make an attempt to care about their employees, now they pay as little as they can get by with,looking for the biggest profits, coming to work in vehicles that cost more than there employees yearly wages, and leave early to go home to multi million dollar homes, then they complain that the people who's wages are so low,that they are elligible for public assistance, are shopping for the best price out of town. the biggest tool to building a stong community is creating a decent paying job not giving money to a activity or organization as a tax rightoff and getting free memberships for themselves, and calling that, giving back to the community.
Yea I know profits have always been a driving force but at least business people used to have alittle tact in not flashing their big profits, claiming they are struggling so they can't afford better wages and NO insurance, then crying for local support.
People might be shopping out of town, out of spite, knowing that business is doing the same thing, but at least they don't have to see it.Yea not solving the problem but human nature.
Posted by success (anonymous) on August 29, 2007 at 5:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lisa I think your article was well written. It does seem pretty obvious that keeping our dollars in FF will help our economy. Not obvious enough for our own City of Fergus Falls however. Driving up & down our city streets you might notice that our own City of Fergus Falls has hired a Morris company to take care of the tree trimming this year. We have local businesses that were not hired? Local businesses HAVE fullfilled this contract for many years. I'm wondering who would make a decision on something that seems so obvious...so elementary?
Posted by Tysmom (anonymous) on August 30, 2007 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think Sears in Fergus Falls is a wondeful example of why many people go out of town to shop.
We purchased all new appliances for our home last fall, as well as a new 50 inch LCD television. When we went to the Sears in town ready to spend some big bucks and the clerks acted like we were wasting their time, so we took our business to the Breckenridge Sears where they went above and beyond our expectations.
Posted by LocalLivingEconomies (anonymous) on August 30, 2007 at 1:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies is a non-profit network of business leaders from 53 communities around North America organizing locally owned, independent businesses to support their community and in return build a strong local economy.
Visit livingeconomies.org for more information.
Here are some answers to common questions about thinking Local First:
Aren't local goods and services more expensive?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The truth is we actually do not know. Careful studies of the comparative prices between local and non-local retailers are rare. But here are some intriguing data points.
* A recent survey of pharmacies in Maine, for example, found that chain drugstores there sold prescriptions at an average price 15 percent greater than local stores.
* What was apparent was that Wal-Mart's prices are lowest in areas where it is fairly new on the scene, and highest in towns where it has largely eliminated the competition. There's plenty of documentation that Wal-Mart routinely sells entire lines of goods below cost in order to squeeze the competition and gain market share. Then prices go up. It has done this in pharmacy goods, toys, gasoline, and now groceries.
A critical mission of Local First is to make sure consumers, businesses, and government purchasing agents ask the right question before spending dollars in a way that will hurt the economy: Is there a reasonably priced local alternative available?
Does Local First seek to subsidize inefficient local business?
No. Free-market economists forget that the United States is a crazy quilt of thousands of market imperfections - subsidies, regulations, insurance liability limits, tax wrinkles - nearly all of which favor non-local business. Buy local campaigns are very modest efforts to adjust this tilt in the playing field. The tilt is so extreme - probably 99 percent of subsidies go to non-local firms - that we would have a very long way to go before it was undone.
Shouldn't we leave the market alone?
A healthy market requires, as Local First insists, that consumers fully gather information about available local alternatives before they make purchasing decisions, in full awareness that every dollar spent locally will have two to four times more benefit than a dollar spent non-locally.
Is Local First a radical concept?
The vision of a world of sustainable communities does differ dramatically from a vision of globalization that tolerates enrichment of a few at the expense of hundreds of millions of workers and families and the destruction of the communities and ecosystems in which they live. But it's hard to imagine more traditional values than those underlying Local First - namely free markets, small business, fair play, and local empowerment.
For more FAQs visit www.livingeconomies.org
Posted by poohsmt (anonymous) on August 31, 2007 at 3:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Guess what?! I LIKE GAP jeans. I LIKE Bath & Bodyworks and I love Aeropostale. I have certain brands that I like. I'm not going to settle on a shirt from Walmart if what I really want is a shirt from American Eagle. If I'm going to spend $20,000.00+ on a vehicle, and I want a Mini Cooper, I'm going to leave Fergus. Sorry. The point is, if we don't have a choice of products here that are what we want, we'll leave town to get it. I don't have tons of money to spend,so when I do spend it, I am going to be happy with my purchase, not settle simply to "support the community." This is not saying that I don't shop at all in Fergus. I do. But when there is something I want that I can't get here, I don't feel a bit bad about leaving.
Posted by nobal (anonymous) on September 3, 2007 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I now live in Chillicothe Mo. and have vacationed in F.F. many times.
We spend a little over $1,000. on each visit.
This vacations are on hold and will never happen again unless were alowed to smoke after our meals.
I have always enjoyed visiting with relatives,Wifes grave,old friends,ect but will comunicate with these by phone,email ect. from now on and if there is bars ,restraunts ect,that have to close because there cash flow has slowed to where they can't make it.
Its not our fault or any from the tourism that has stoped.
I have seen bars all ready have to close because of the smoking bans.
I don't drink so they never got any money from me or my wife but restraunts do.
If we can't smoke after are meals we don't go there.
I'll suport my locals here in Mo. Drechsel, now in Mo.
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on November 7, 2007 at 11:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hi
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