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By Sam Hosler
Mayor, Town of Kearny
Norm’s Hometown IGA; Cosmic Coffee; She’s Country; Big D’s; West End Café; The Trading Post; ACE Hardware; Buzzy’s; Vache’s NAPA Store. These are some of the Kearny businesses which, in the past two or three years, have rebuilt themselves, enlarged themselves, transformed themselves and otherwise have staked out an important place in our economy. They join the General Kearny Inn, La Cantina, Family Dollar and Kearny HealthMart in being economy anchors.
There are numerous other businesses too, and as we trade with them we pay the sales tax which builds our town’s infrastructure. The businesses pay property taxes as well, furthering our town’s well-being. They employ our citizens, which is perhaps the greatest benefit of all.
Making use of our local businesses makes sense in all sorts of ways. If we buy locally, we not only keep the businesses in Kearny. We keep people employed. We enable businesses to expand. And the sales tax and property taxes keep our school and town government running.
Shopping locally makes sense. A new group in Arizona, Local First Arizona, makes the important point that my dollars spent locally not only puts my dollars in the economy but, through employment and the purchases made by others, my dollars recirculate and benefit the economy even more. When I spend one dollar locally, 30 cents remain in the economy. In other words, shopping locally makes a 30% boost.
I’m like everyone else. When I go to Phoenix or Tucson, I see things I can buy cheaper than in Kearny. Cheaper, that is, until I realize that a trip means not only gasoline and wear and tear on my vehicle, but also (usually) the cost of a meal. On top of that, going to Phoenix or Tucson takes up time, time I could have used more productively.
I’m also like everyone else in another way. When I go to the city, I am more prone to do impulse buying, buying things I really do not need or, if I need them, could have bought them locally and avoided all the expense of the trip.
I went to the Local First Arizona website (localfirstaz.com/) and measured the impact that shifting just 10% of my spending to Kearny would have. It’s huge! I would put $1,800 more into local businesses. If all of us in Kearny were to shift 10% more of our spending, the net result would be 9 new jobs, over $290,000 in new local wages, and almost $748,000 dollars recirculating locally. Look at the website and see for yourself.
A local shift can be a big lift for our community.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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