Buy Local – Buy Rogue: What’s Local?

January, 2010

by Wendy Siporen

Let’s start with a key question we are often asked about the new Buy Local – Buy Rogue initiative.  Just what do we mean when we say “local?”  Local can mean so many different things to different people.  During our Eat Local Challenge, we’ve sometimes defined “local” as food produced within 200 miles.  But miles alone can’t come close to defining the quality of local that we are talking about.

The aim of Buy Local – Buy Rogue is to support the financial sustainability of community-based businesses in our valley and keep more money recirculating in the local economy.  In order to keep more money in the local economy, theses businesses need to be free to buy from other locally owned businesses and not send profits off to corporate headquarters in another state.  This is the key to the local multiplier – the higher percentage of payroll, purchases and profit that stays in the region when you shop at a locally owned independent business.

So for us, local does not mean “located,” as in “the big box store located in my town.”  That is why we continue to emphasize not just local, but locally owned, independent businesses.
Sometimes it can even be difficult to determine which businesses are locally owned and independent.  How about a locally owned McDonalds?  Would an insurance agent with a national company and a local office qualify?  We have tried to simplify these questions into a short survey. We ask all businesses who want to participate in Buy Local – Buy Rogue to answer yes to all of these questions:

1. Is your business privately held (not publicly traded)?
2. Do the business owners, totaling greater than 50 percent of the business ownership live in Jackson or Josephine County?
3. Is your business registered in Oregon, with no corporate or national headquarters outside Oregon?
4. Can your business make independent decisions regarding the name and look of your business, as well as all business purchasing, practices and distribution?
5. Do you pay all your own marketing, rent and other business expenses, without assistance from a corporate headquarters?

These questions get at the economic reasons for buying local.  There are many other reasons – customer service and unique products all contribute to a better shopping experience and a more diverse economic base.  Local also means being able to talk to the owner and maybe even seeing him at your kid’s ball game.

During this economic crisis, a growing number of people are thinking more about where the things they buy come from and where they spend their money.  They are recognizing that the money and power in this country has shifted too far away from Main Street.   Buying local means beginning to rebuild the web of economic relationships we have with our neighbors and along with it the prosperity and security of everyone in the Rogue Valley.

Buy Local – Buy Rogue encourages the community to “think local first” when they have something to buy.   If a locally owned business is not available or does not meet your needs, then of course you should seek out a chain store or internet company that can satisfy you.  We are not advocating isolationism or local only. 

The group of 109 Rogue Valley entrepreneurs who make up the Buy Local – Buy Rogue initiative are working hard to serve your needs and create a healthy economy for their family and yours.  We invite you to “go Rogue” and help the Rogue Valley economy thrive by becoming a Buy Local – Buy Rogue member if you are a business owner, and by supporting our members when you make your purchasing decisions!

Wendy Siporen is the director of Thrive and the Buy Local – Buy Rogue initiative.  For more information go to: www.BuyLocalRogue.org