New Jackson County Shoppers' Hotline Helps Local Shoppers and Local Economy
The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce has kicked off its first-ever Shoppers' Hotline to help residents and tourists shop in local stores. Doing so, they hope, will help boost the local economy for small businesses and store owners, keep profits within the community, and promote the wide array of useful, interesting, unique goods and services supplied by Jackson County businesses.
Call the Shoppers' Hotline at 586-2155 (within the county) or toll-free at 1-800-962-1911. When you call, you'll receive immediate personal contact with Executive Director Julie Spiro, staffer Mary Kelley or other Chamber of Commerce personnel, eliminating an automated approach. Then, you can specify what you're looking to shop for -- whether an item or a service -- and they'll give you a list of businesses in Jackson County offering that particular item or service.
Lists of good places to go for Christmas gifts also are available; stores are listed by the category of item or service they carry. Several stores have supplied the Chamber with their sale flyers and lists of holiday specials, so you'll get the latest information on what's available and where it is.
"The reason why we're doing this is simply to encourage people to shop locally in our area, to spend their money here," said Spiro, who has nurtured the project for a few years. "We know the products our members carry, and whatever you're looking for or need to find, we know how to find it around here."
Spiro said the Chamber has carried out "Shop at Home" campaigns for the past two years, but that those hadn't provided the level of personal, professional service that this hotline could.
"We just wanted to try something different, because anything that we can do to keep that money local, we will."
Some stores, like Radio Shack, are providing flyers with the electronics they offer, eliminating the need to drive to bigger "box" stores in Asheville or Waynesville. Other questions, like one Julie fielded the other day, are a little different: when someone called in asking for bagpipes and related services and items, it turned out that Allan Moore, co-owner of City Lights Bookstore, is a bagpiper and could perfectly answer the caller's questions!
"So there's more around than you think," Spiro added. "Almost any idea people can bring to us, whether it's a service, an outlet for quality pottery, or a piece of handmade local jewelry, we can find it for them here in Jackson County."
The Jackson County hotline follows a growing national trend to make it easy for people to keep money within their communities. Economic studies show that more money spent in locally-owned stores translates into a much larger margin of profits remaining in the community. By staffing with local labor, purchasing local goods and services, and making local charitable contributions, local businesses sometimes return as much as 80% of their profits back out into the community. In contrast, national chain stores peak at about 40%.
Shopping locally also is promoted as being environmentally friendly, keeping gas usage, transportation costs, and pollution from vehicles, to a minimum. A web site at www.civiceconomics.com has links to the economic studies and to tool kits provided by several organizations, like the American Booksellers Association and the San Francisco Locally-Owned Merchants Alliance.
Jackson County Magazine says: Be sure to experiment with the benefits of shopping locally yourself this holiday season - with the Chamber's unique contribution, there's no better reason to start now!
You also might wish to visit the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce on the Web at www.mountainlovers.com.
Call the Shoppers' Hotline at 586-2155 (within the county) or toll-free at 1-800-962-1911. When you call, you'll receive immediate personal contact with Executive Director Julie Spiro, staffer Mary Kelley or other Chamber of Commerce personnel, eliminating an automated approach. Then, you can specify what you're looking to shop for -- whether an item or a service -- and they'll give you a list of businesses in Jackson County offering that particular item or service.
Lists of good places to go for Christmas gifts also are available; stores are listed by the category of item or service they carry. Several stores have supplied the Chamber with their sale flyers and lists of holiday specials, so you'll get the latest information on what's available and where it is.
"The reason why we're doing this is simply to encourage people to shop locally in our area, to spend their money here," said Spiro, who has nurtured the project for a few years. "We know the products our members carry, and whatever you're looking for or need to find, we know how to find it around here."
Spiro said the Chamber has carried out "Shop at Home" campaigns for the past two years, but that those hadn't provided the level of personal, professional service that this hotline could.
"We just wanted to try something different, because anything that we can do to keep that money local, we will."
Some stores, like Radio Shack, are providing flyers with the electronics they offer, eliminating the need to drive to bigger "box" stores in Asheville or Waynesville. Other questions, like one Julie fielded the other day, are a little different: when someone called in asking for bagpipes and related services and items, it turned out that Allan Moore, co-owner of City Lights Bookstore, is a bagpiper and could perfectly answer the caller's questions!
"So there's more around than you think," Spiro added. "Almost any idea people can bring to us, whether it's a service, an outlet for quality pottery, or a piece of handmade local jewelry, we can find it for them here in Jackson County."
The Jackson County hotline follows a growing national trend to make it easy for people to keep money within their communities. Economic studies show that more money spent in locally-owned stores translates into a much larger margin of profits remaining in the community. By staffing with local labor, purchasing local goods and services, and making local charitable contributions, local businesses sometimes return as much as 80% of their profits back out into the community. In contrast, national chain stores peak at about 40%.
Shopping locally also is promoted as being environmentally friendly, keeping gas usage, transportation costs, and pollution from vehicles, to a minimum. A web site at www.civiceconomics.com has links to the economic studies and to tool kits provided by several organizations, like the American Booksellers Association and the San Francisco Locally-Owned Merchants Alliance.
Jackson County Magazine says: Be sure to experiment with the benefits of shopping locally yourself this holiday season - with the Chamber's unique contribution, there's no better reason to start now!
You also might wish to visit the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce on the Web at www.mountainlovers.com.
Don't forget that Chamber of Commerce will (likely) not send shoppers to businesses that are not members of the Chamber. Many of us are not members (yet).