Campaign Urges Shoppers to Think 'Local'
By Olga Campos
Originally published on KVUE News, November 26, 2007

It was a busy weekend for retailers. After Thanksgiving more than 147 million shoppers hit the stores. Nationwide, so far sales are up 8 percent over last year.

With still more holiday shopping ahead a campaign is underway to steer some of those retail dollars to locally-owned businesses.

Not all stores are created equal. Some have ecletic exteriors and can be found in clusters.

"It's kind of a vintagy feel in this area. You have.. we're right in front of Room Service Vintage," said Melissa Miller, describing one area of shops.

As the Director of the Austin Independent Business Alliance, Miller's priority is promoting locally-owned retailers.

"When you spend a dollar at a locally owned business it actually recirculates into the community up to 3 times more than if you spend it with a chain store," she said.

The just-launched "Locally Spoken Here" campaign focuses on four newly created IBIZ districts.

"We call them Independent Business Investment Zones and they are basically areas where you have large high percentage of locally owned businesses and we work with those businesses to help them brand themselves," Miller said.

Besides the North Loop Strip, the other IBIZ Districts are East 11th Street, South Lamar and a portion of Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas campus.

Independent merchants who repair musical instruments and equipment make up the store known as the Musical Exchange.

"We don't have the buying power that the bigger places do, but we do offer things that the bigger places don't," said Walter Hutcherson, owner.

The bigger places don't have the IBIZ banners and the "Local Spoken Here" campaign. Hutcherson hopes both will provide an edge to attracting new customers and their dollars.

"And so by working with them to brand themselves and to cooperatively work together on their brand and to promote that we feel that it's going to make a huge impact on keeping these districts around," Miller said.

The IBIZ districts are sponsored in part by the City of Austin's Small Business Development Program.