Have a favorite coffee spot? A grinder that you just can't get anywhere else?
Would you miss them if they were gone ...forever?
Why not skip the big box store and shop locally. It's the simple concept behind a -- gasp! -- website called The 3/50 Project. Here is how it works:
- You pick three independently-owned businesses.
- Spend $50 each month locally.
- Save your local economy.
According to the website It's that simple. The site claims, "for every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home."
Here in Connecticut, dozens of local businesses are taking part. “It’s a neat concept,” Joanne LeFrancois, owner of LeFrancois Floral and Gifts in Norwich, told the Norwich Bulletin.
And once businesses sign up, they can get graphics for their website, a banner for their window and access to a library of free options.
"It's getting people talking," Kyrena Parkinson, a member of the family that owns The Paddock Inc. horse equipment tack shop in Ledyard, told the newspaper. "Most of the people we speak to about it say they'll make a conscious effort to buy local."
For the woman that started The 3/50 Project , Cinda Baxter, it's pretty simple: "I hand Superman capes to small business owners, then teach them to fly."
If only it was that easy.
