A Wall Street Journal article, “Local Efforts to Save Main Street Bring In Traffic“, confirms ‘buy local’ programs work — but are ‘shop local’ programs a long-term fix for a community’s small retail business? Probably not on its own.
Maybe ‘shop local / buy local / shop-at-home’ programs should not be expected to save small retail business. However, it could be a marketing piece that brings customers into the store, but small business had better be prepared to provide those customers with a shopping experience with value and a quality of place. Ideas on improving a small retail business in Hickman County, Tennessee can start at http://www.business.hickmantn.org/ or on this blog, http://blog.hickmantn.org/.
About Daryl Phillips, CEcD
I am a professional economic developer. I presently work for communities and companies in developing and implementing workforce and economic development solutions as CEO of Phillips Economic Development Solutions (Phi EDS).
Prior to September 2017, I was the economic development professional who served a community team of elected officials, business people, community leaders and dedicated stakeholders for economic development in Cheatham County, Tennessee (pop. 39,880) and its four towns. During my five-year tenure, I served the team as Cheatham County grew over 1,700 jobs, turned around population declines at the start of this decade into healthy population growth, increased tourism expenditures 20.3% and local tax revenue from tourism 25.4%, grew sales tax revenue 36%, focused on developing the local workforce and was recognized by SmartAsset as having the 9th highest Incoming Investment Index of all the 95 counties in Tennessee.
I am a member of International Economic Development Council, Southern Economic Development Council, Tennessee Economic Development Council and International Council of Shopping Centers.
I have earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) from International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) certification from National Development Council and hold a Master of Business Administration from Tennessee Technological University.
