publication date: May 10, 2009
With a tag line “Save your local economy three stores at a time,” the projectʻs goal is to promote shopping in locally owned businesses while thanking customers for the positive impact that decision has on a local economy.
“Weʼre constantly inundated with doom and gloom,” says Baxter, now a retail consultant and professional speaker. “The system is broken, the banks are frozen, the economy is bleeding. Thatʼs all we hear. The images painted by the media are ghastly and devoid of hope. What we
need—what we crave—as a nation is to pinpoint areas where positive change can occur, then feel good about having promoted them.”
By early March, sheʼd decided enough was enough, and that it was time to give retailers ammunition to fight back with. Rather than get tangled in complex messaging and deployment, Baxter combined a straightforward theme, a free flyer, and her blog as the mechanism to launch. The 3/50 Project.
“We ask consumers to think about which three stores theyʼd miss if they disappeared, then remind them to return there,” explains Baxter. “Shoppers have become so rooted in thinking about the essentials that theyʼve forgotten about the little gift store on the corner whose owner
remembers their name.”
“Fifty comes from the idea that if even half the employed population spent a mere $50 per month in locally owned retail stores, those purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue,” she continues. “Thatʼs a huge impact for a relatively small investment.”
Which leads to a third number on the flyer, sixty-eight—the dollar amount that remains in a communityʼs economy for every $100 spent in locally owned stores. By contrast, only $43 per one hundred remains local when spent in national chains; little or no revenue results from online purchases.
Which leads to a third number on the flyer, sixty-eight—the dollar amount that remains in a communityʼs economy for every $100 spent in locally owned stores. By contrast, only $43 per one hundred remains local when spent in national chains; little or no revenue results from online purchases.
“In essence, the whole thing boils down to ʻPick 3, spend 50, save the economy.ʼ Itʼs really that simple.”