Kevin Donaldson

Its interesting that as we all grow our on-line networks ever larger, there is a real world movement back to a local communities.  This week I came across a nice article in Yes! magazine entitled 'A New Deal for Local Economies', that discussed the new interest in 'Local'.  Locally owned, locally produced ... local is definitely 'in'. 

Balihoo is a big believer in local, and in fact we base our entire local marketing automation business on this movement.  It is way more than a trend, but a movement that is building for the long term.  To support this, the article threw out some interesting facts:

• There are now 5274 active farmers markets in the united states, and half have been started in the last decade.
• Some 400 new independent book stores have opened in the past 4 years (although I would be willing to bet that most of them are also selling through amazon marketplace:)
• Most students graduating from pharmacy school report that they would rather open their own drugstore than work for a chain
• Last April as Virgin Mega-stores prepared to shutter its last US location more than a thousand independent music stores where mobbed for the second annual Record store day - a celebration of independent record stores that drew hundreds of thousands of people into local stores, became one of the top search terms on Google and triggered a 16 point upswing in album sales
• Driving is down in the US over the last 2 years while data from metro regions show that homes located within walking distance of local business's held value better than isolated suburbs
• Local business alliances have now formed in over 130 cities and collectively count some 30,000 business's as members

However, the article goes on to blast larger brands and national chains from trying to take advantage of this movement through unscrupulous local marketing strategy.  Examples sited include a marketing campaign by Hellmann's Mayonnaise owned by food giant Unilever called "Eat Real, Eat Local" or Frito-Lay using local farmers pitching potato chips as local food. 

While these brand may be taking far too much liberty with their local advertising, its important to understand that just because a brand name can be found across the country doesn't mean its not local.  For instance most franchises are locally owned and operated by neighbors in your community.  Just because there are national ads on TV doesn't mean they aren't local. 

For instance a Quiznos franchise that gets food supplied from a national distributor is no different than the local record store that gets CD's supplied by distributors for major labels.  They sponsor local kids sports team, and events just as much as any other local business's do. 

While it may be hard to always distinguish stores owned by the corporation vs those with local owners - all one has to do is ask before you pass judgment.  I am all for eating/buying local but just remember that just because a retail outlet is a chain, doesn't mean it isn't local.