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I was really saddened a few months ago when I read about the closing of Second Story, an independent bookstore in the town I grew up in. It was one of the real charming, character-lending stores in a very suburban neighborhood, and one of those increasingly rare spots where you can ask for help and really get it.
It's an all-too-common tale, but it just could not keep up with the Border's (or maybe it was Barnes & Noble, they blur together for me) that had opened nearby.
Want to help your local economy?
Maybe, just maybe, if The 3/50 Project had taken hold before that happened, Second Story would still be open for business. It's a call to spend $50 at three local, independently-owned stores each month. Simple, right? But it could be at least one part of the solution we should have found ten years ago to revive and preserve local economies.
The 3/50 site offers hard-to-argue-with numbers: half the employed population spending $50 a month could generate $42.6 billion in revenue. The community gets $68 for every $100 spent at a local, independent store, but only $43 with a national chain. (Buying online? You get none back.)
While the best thing, environmentally speaking, is to consume less whenever possible, we all need... well, things, now and then. And buying local is certainly greener than supporting national chains in their emissions-creating transportation (and unnecessary packaging-encouraging habits). So if you're still a shopper, try to shop as local as you can, and if you've managed to give up shopping completely except for food, first leave comments below and tell us how, but assuming you still eat, try buying all your food, and do all your dining out, at independently-owned businesses.
Buy local. It's too late for Second Story, but it's not too late for countless independent stores around the country.
