Saving Local Businesses $50 At a Time

Earlier this year when the bottom dropped out of the retail market, many were prophesying the doom of the nation's economy. Having worked 10+ years in retail, Cinda Baxter realized that the snowballing negativity, prompting excessive penny-pinching, had to be reversed if the nation is to recover.

“If people aren’t spending that just fuels the economy’s slowdown,” Baxter said.

As a result Baxter began writing about ways to revitalize communities and restore consumer confidence.  What started as a blog post quickly became known as the the 3/50 project.  On Tuesday at the Darien Library, Baxter dropped by to shed some light on her endeavor and to demonstrate how it could benefit both the economy and local business owners.

The basic principle of the 3/50 project asks residents of a community to spend $50 every month between three local businesses.  By redirecting purchases at chain stores to local brick and mortar shops, the customers drive money back into their communities and help struggling business owners stay afloat.

“If half of the working population of the United States did this, it would generate over $42 billion in revenue.” Baxter said.

Within days of posting the basic principles of the project on her blog, thousands of unique visitors were logging on to show their support and pass Baxter’s message on to friends and families. Now over ten thousand supporters throughout the nation, including several businesses in Wilton, have embraced the shop-local mantra. Baxter believes that many never realized local shops were in danger, or that the money they generated went directly back into their communities via commercial taxes.

“When you make a purchase at a chain or online, the money is being redirected to the corporate headquarters, and doesn’t get reinvested into the community," she said. “It’s like a piggy bank with a hole in the bottom.”

By putting focus back on the community, the 3/50 project encourages businesses to form networks that pass customers back and forth. And while the project encourages customers to make use of local stores, it doesn’t discourage them from chains like many other buy-local campaigns have.

Aside from its one basic principle, the project’s website offers suggestions designed to help local businesses capitalize on the increased interest that the project will drive to them. These include printable banners and stickers and plans designed to help brick and mortar business help each other.

One plan engages customers by letting them display the local stores they’re shopping at on cards in the windows of all the participating businesses.

“I guarantee that you will see people trying to find themselves and their friends up there,” Baxter said. “Windows are very powerful tools in that way.”

If the tactics that the 3/50 project offers are as successful at keeping shop windows full of merchandise as they are keeping customers' attention, then the effort seems headed in the right direction.

*Editor's Note: Stay tuned for Chris DiMarco's follow-up story, profiling participating businesses in Wilton.