News Roundup

Cash That’s Spent Here, Stays Here

The Times-Picayune
Friday, December 07, 2007
Lolis Eric Elie

Whenever a chain store threatens to rear its big boxy head in our midst, a hue and cry goes up from the preservationists.

So consistent is their reaction that one could easily conclude that these people are opposed to everything and in favor of nothing.

True to form, the Urban Conservancy was born of the 2003 effort to keep Wal-Mart from opening at the site of the old St. Thomas public housing development. But since then, the group has focused its effort in a somewhat different direction.

“How do we approach the issue from a proactive rather than an anti-anything prospective?” asked Dana Eness, director of Stay Local!, an initiative of the Urban Conservancy.

“Stay Local! is focused on creating a strong local economy,” she said.

Mutually beneficial

The strong local economy the organization envisions is based on consumers supporting local businesses and those businesses supporting one another.

For Stay Local!, a local business must be owned by a New Orleans area resident, and major operational decisions must be made locally.

A local company is more apt to hire local accountants, printers and lawyers, while the local branch of a national chain is apt to send its dollars back to the corporate headquarters and spend them there.

“That’s what’s known as the local premium, when the dollars continue to revolve within the local economy,” Eness said. “That’s the part we need to educate folks about. Their dollars can make a larger economic impact depending on where they shop.”

There’s one big problem with the Stay Local! approach. Public officials tend to make it a priority to recruit large national chains. They seem to have little faith in the economic impact of smaller businesses.

I spoke to Eness at the Freret Market, the monthly event held along that Uptown street.

Much like Oak, Maple, and Magazine streets, St. Claude Avenue and parts of Franklin Avenue, Freret is a small commercial corridor chock full of small, local businesses.

“Ultimately, we need to make the connection at the policy level of what these commercial corridors and micro-businesses mean to the economy,” Eness said.

“What would happen if the large government grants awarded as part of the recovery effort had been broken up and given to these businesses? What kind of transformation would we see then?” Eness asked.

Going to markets

The emphasis on buying local has grown in the past two years, as neighborhood markets have sprung up in neighborhoods including Gretna, the Upper 9th Ward and St. Roch.

Many of them have increased their offerings of craft and gift items for the holiday season. For a complete list of local businesses and neighborhood markets, visit staylocal.org or call 617-6618.

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Lolis Eric Elie can be reached at lelie@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3330.