Declaration of Independents
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jenny Heinzen-York -- Kids Today, 5/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
When I left this magazine five years ago to move to sister magazine Home Accents Today, the independent retailers in our field were fighting hard to keep their businesses strong and thriving against serious competition from the big box stores and chains.
Fast forward to 2009 — the stores are still fighting, but the enemy is now the overall economy as much those Goliath stores.
But the entrepreneurial spirit lives on — maybe even more determined and creative than ever.
So, I want to share one idea with you that I really love that may help drive success at your independent store.
Gift and home industry consultant Cinda Baxter recently launched The 3/50 Project. It goes like this: Pick three independent retailers in your community that you would miss if they closed, visit them and spend some money in each.
If half the employed population spent $50 per month at those stores (based on February employment statistics), it would generate $42.6 billion in sales.
But it doesn't stop at the stores. According to Baxter, for every $100 spent in locally-owned stores, $68 returns to the community in taxes, payroll and other expenditures. At a national chain, that number drops to $42.
This is one of those elegantly simple ideas — it's an easy concept to grasp and one that you are invited to use yourself for your own store's benefit. Just go online to the350project.net and get on board. Use it to promote your own business and other retailers in your area.
It's appropriate that we celebrate the independent business this month, as we head to the new All Baby & Child Spring Conference and tradeshow. ABC represents the critically important independent retailer segment in a way no other organization does. And it has done so since its inception back in my prior Kids Today life. Again, the more things change ...
I'm glad to be back. Please contact me at jheinzen@reedbusiness.com and let me know what we at Kids Today can do for you. We believe in independent stores, and we are here to help you win the fight.
We would love your feedback!
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