If you “Love” Clarksdale, then buy your guy or gal a gift from a Clarksdale store this week.
January and February are two of the toughest months in the retail and restaurant business. Cold weather and short days tend to make people scurry home after work, and besides you gave your lover something at Christmas!
That kind of thinking will not gain you anything at home. It won’t gain hardworking Clarksdale businesses anything either.
We all know the reason for shopping at home – when you spend money locally it strengthens the local economy.
But do you really know the numbers?
For every $100 spent in locally-owned, independent businesses, $68 returns to the community through, taxes, payroll and other expenditures. Spending that same $100 in Memphis, Batesville, Oxford or online gains us nothing.
And we want to urge our local businesses to shop locally for services and materials for your business. That same 68-percent return on every dollar spent applies to you, too.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said, if every shopper in Coahoma County would spend $50 extra dollars in local businesses this month we would see our local economy turn around this winter.
We also want to point out with gasoline at $2 a gallon it costs a minimum of $40 to get to Memphis and back. That can eat into any kind of alleged savings from shopping out of town.
So guys, go to the jewelry store, carry that girl out to eat and buy her some sexy clothes.
Girls, guys like shiny things, too, like tools, parts for the car or a polished bottle of fine spirits.
Now can everything you need and want be purchased in this town? Of course not.
But we do encourage you to give local businesses that first shot at your Valentine dollar.
We ask you to think about it another way.
What three locally owned businesses or companies would you miss if they closed?
The last couple of years have been tough on hometown businesses. They truly are the bread-and-butter of the local economy. They want your business – they need your business!
We encourage you to stop in a local store this week. Say hello. Then pick up something that will bring a smile to someone you love.
Your purchases are what keeps hometown businesses around. And Clarksdale loves that.
