Corvallis Independent Business Alliance and food co-op highlight benefits of local food - American Independent Business Alliance AMIBA

April 26, 2007

Buying from neighbors: Corvallis business boosters plan a series of breakfasts to tout the importance of buying local

By BENNETT HALL
Gazette-Times business editor

Where is your money going?

The people behind the new “Buy Local First” campaign want you to think about that.

“We’re hot to change the buying habits of people in Corvallis ,” said Barbara Ross of the Corvallis Independent Business Alliance.

CIBA is one of the organizers of the campaign, which aims to get locals to buy more locally produced goods in locally owned stores.

To promote those goals, CIBA and the First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op are sponsoring a series of three breakfasts, starting May 5. Part pancake feed, part trade show, the breakfasts will feature food made with local ingredients, entertainment from local musicians and information on goods and services available from local business owners.

“The chains, all their money goes out of town,” Ross said. “Our local people care about their community.”

Ross argued that buying local products from local merchants benefits the community in three major ways:

• Economically. Supporting local businesses keeps them contributing to the local economy.

• Environmentally. Locally produced goods don’t have to be transported long distances, which means less fuel consumption and less air pollution.

• Charitably. Local businesses tend to be more supportive of community causes, in terms of both volunteer time and donations of cash, goods and services.

The campaign is an outgrowth of Prosperity That Fits, a strategy for shoring up the local economy while protecting the quality of life area residents have come to enjoy. It’s one of more than 40 action steps identified during the planning process for the strategy, which has been endorsed by Corvallis and Benton County .

It also dovetails with another campaign recently launched by First Alternative that promotes products made in the six counties of the greater mid-valley area: Benton, Linn, Lincoln, Lane, Polk and Marion. The promotion uses a “Local 6” logo to identify some 1,200 locally made products stocked on the shelves of both First Alternative locations.

“We made over 2,400 shelf talkers,” said Emily Hagen, who works in marketing for the co-op. “Every local product in our stores is labeled Local 6, so that makes it easier for people.”

Not only do the green-and-yellow squares give shoppers a visual cue about where their grocery money is going, Hagen said, but the shelf talkers also offer clues to potential business opportunities for local entrepreneurs by identifying what kinds of goods aren’t made around here.

“When you walk around, you start to notice there are definite gaps in the market here,” Hagen said. “People could come in and really start to fill that gap.”

Product codes for Local 6 items are logged into First Alternative’s point-of-sale system, so the co-op can track sales in its database. Customers see an “L” on their receipt next to each Local 6 purchase, reinforcing the “buy local message.”

The program is just getting started, so it’s too soon to tell how well Local 6 products sell compared to goods made outside the immediate trade area. But Hagen said the First Alternative staff has been gratified to discover that locally produced goods represent a substantial chunk of their 12,000-item inventory.

“It’s been really rewarding to know we’re doing pretty well” in that department, Hagen said. “We’re at about 10 percent local.”

And that’s the whole idea behind the Buy Local First campaign, Ross said: reminding people there are plenty of local businesses they can support when they spend their paychecks.

“We’d just like to nudge people in that direction,” she said.

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