Looking at my dining room window which is doubling as my office this morning, I have an unobstructed view of empty parking lot at West Photo and Surdyks's Liquor& Cheese Shop- neither are open for business on Sunday -- otherwise, the parking lot a Surdyks would be jammed.

I live in the city. I walk to the grocery store - locally owned Lund's and I buy dog food one block away a Bone Adventure. Without stretching my neck too much, I can see their striped awning from my window.

Within a five block radius there are three coffee shops -all are locally owned: Taraccino Coffee, Wild Roast Cafe and  Caribou ( no longer independently owned.Started in Minneapolis, still headquartered in Minneapolis, even though it's publicly traded.)

One block down from Bone Adventure stands Rachel's - it's been empty since I moved into the neighborhood 3 1/2 years ago. It's supposed to be a restaurant with a great outdoor courtyard which would be perfect today on this absolutely glorious spring day in Minnesota.

Across the street from Rachel's,The Times Bar Cafe has taken down the sign in the window which had been there since early winter saying it's closed for remodeling. Isn't that code in the restaurant business for we need to get a new owner?

Just this week one of my neighbors asked if I had heard anything about the Irish Bar in our neighborhood. They had heard a rumor it's closing. I have not heard anything.

Spend any time talking to a local retailer and they will tell you they are hurting. Business is down and retailers are scrambling to figure out how to get customers back into their stores.

Enter Cinda Baxter, a Minnesota based retail consultant who has an idea how to help these local retailers. It's called the 3/50 project.

I learned about it yesterday at the Wild Roast Cafe- that's the shop five blocks from my home. I was there for a client meeting and as I was waiting for Jeff to get his iced tea I had time to read the tabletop.

The 3/50 project began as an idea shared on a blog post.In February  Cinda Baxter wrote a post called, The $50 Retail Challenge. Baxter was sharing a post from an unidentified Canadian blogger who challenged Canadians who currently have jobs to shop locally and spend $100 or $50. The Canadian blogger said if half of the eligible Canadians did that, it would add $1,660,634,800 to the Canadian economy.

Baxter then blogged what the implications would be for the U.S. economy if we took a $50 Challenge.

How ‘bout a cool $42,629,700,000…and that’s if only half the employed population spent only $50 per month.

About two weeks later, Baxter followed up with a post called Save The Economy Three Stores At A Time where she introduced the 3/50 Project.  The idea of 3/50  is a blend of the Canadian Retail Challenge and an idea inspired by Rievea Lesonsky, Consulting Editor at BizWomen.Com, Support Your Local Small Business.

 I’ve been thinking about which three stores I would most hate to see go
out of business, and how I can support them with my dollars. [...]

The
three small entrepreneurs you support regularly with your dollars could
be the little boutique on your town’s Main Street, the beauty salon
where you get your hair cut, or a local restaurant. It could mean using
a real live insurance agent rather than getting a quote from an someone
halfway across the country.. It could mean getting your shoes resoled
or repaired at the local shoe repair shop rather than buying a new pair
from a big department store.

 

In times like these, we all need to put our money where it counts. Whenever possible, shop locally.

The idea is catching on. Preservation Pink thinks she knows why.

There is always a lot of talk about shopping local and the benefits of
doing so, with vague explanations included, but until The 3/50 Project,
I had never seen it described so simplistically, so easy to for one
person to take action as an individual.

From the Flutterbygirls

The movementʼs success is attributed to the simplicity of the message, and the form in which itʼs delivered. While most Buy Local campaigns rely on terminology about “local living economies”and “sustainable micro-economics,” The 3/50 Project answers questions consumers are likely to ask in the language they speak at the dinner table: Whatʼs it going to cost, and how will this help?

Because of where I live I've been meeting this challenge without knowing it. However, reading that tabletop at Wild Roast reminded me that when given a choice, I do want and need to support the businesses in my neighborhood.

What about you? Are you intentionally shopping at your local retailers? Which three businesses would you miss if they disappeared?

Elana writes about business culture at FunnyBusiness.