This season’s front page visits with Iola retail merchants are the 2012 version of “be local, buy local— a smart way to live. Each one of the stories gives Register readers shopping tips for Christmas and for all of the rest of the days in the year. Iola’s stores have an amazing variety of high quality merchandise for sale.
But the economist in me wants to make a stronger pitch for the benefits gained from dollars spent in Iola.
When you spend $100 here at home — and, my, what a modest holiday budget that would be — about 75 percent of it stays in town. National studies show that every dollar spent locally turns over four times in the community. Spend a hundred dollars in Iola and it becomes a $400 boost right here. Spend $100 out of town and the muliplying takes place there.
And, for exactly the same reason, Humboldt shoppers should shop Humboldt and the good people of Moran should spend dollars there, starting, perhaps, with top drawer meats and other good things to eat at Moran Locker.
In today’s computer-dominated world, there will be those who never leave their homes to do their shopping. The Internet offers enticing purchases. All those Christmas catalogs invite us to buy over the phone or the ‘net. All it takes is a credit card and a few clicks on the keyboard.
But the temptation should prompt second thoughts. Add the cost of shipping first and see if the purchase is still that inviting. Then remember how disappointed you were when the last shipment arrived and the contents were not at all what you expected. Those entrancing color photos often are the most attractive part of the merchandise offered.
Maybe the best reason to keep that credit card in the wallet is that on-line shopping is so quick and easy that it’s easy to over-do. Credit card balances carry a hefty interest rate. Yield to the temptation and those monthly additions to what was paid for stuff can become overwhelming.
Be local and buy local means you have a chance to look carefully before you buy — to actually hold the item in your hand, feel the fabric, switch the gadget on and see if it works, before you buy. Be local, buy local and you will become aware of the real bargains you can find right here in Iola.
Here’s another thought: How many people does Amazon employ locally? Zero. Iola workers pay taxes and because they do, they make it easier for the rest of the community to pay the cost of running the city with its utility systems, of keeping the streets in good shape, support the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, keep the public schools and Allen Community College high quality to help Iola’s youngsters meet their potential. The more taxpayers there are, the less each taxpayer must pay.
But perhaps the very best reason of all to Be Local, Buy Local is to invest in the future of the community. The more support that Iolans give to Iola’s merchants, the more certain the future of those merchants becomes. Stores that aren’t patronized must close their doors. Those supported by the community expand their lines of merchanise, remodel to make their businesses more attractive and hire more clerks so they are able to offer better service.
Be Local. Buy Local. Build Iola. Make it a better place for you and your family to live.
Happy shopping.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
