If shopping is on your list of things to do over the Independence Day holiday, local merchants hope your dollars will go to "independents."
For the past three and a half years the buy local movement has been growing in the Kalamazoo area. Now
Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo boasts more than 100 members.
During the first week of July they are encouraging shoppers to support the local businesses that support the local economy. They call it Independents Week.
Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo is affiliated with AMIBA --
American Independent Business Alliance -- and is part of a growing national movement rallying to support independent businesses, take control of their local economies, and reverse the trend of chains and big boxes displacing locally owned businesses.
The point of Independents Week is to help local businesses improve their bottom line, says Gloria Tiller, who chairs the board of Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo. "If you spend your money locally rather than online it helps strengthen where you live," Tiller says.
She says that although some people are reluctant to shop locally knowing they have to pay a 6 percent sales tax, the reality is that tax comes back to the community to help pay for government services. When the state becomes stronger the nation becomes stronger, she says.
Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo is nonpartisan. Its members often meet to exchange business advice on what is working. It promotes local businesses through special events such as Independents Week and a similar promotion the day after Thanksgiving, supported through cooperative advertising.
For many people local businesses are under the radar, Tiller says. With promotions such as Independents Week the organization says: "Hey, pay attention to the wealth of unique shops and services that this community has to offer," she says.
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Gloria Tiller, Kazoo Books and Buy Local Greater Kalamazoo
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