Democrats in the state Senate have suggested that the state create a mobile phone application to help shoppers identify locally owned businesses, who would pay a $10 annual fee to be listed.
Its a fine idea, although its Republican opponents are right: Let an entrepreneur do it. While the legislature does have a legitimate interest in promoting small Colorado businesses and Colorado-made (or grown) products, it has bigger issues to handle.
One of the challenges for most Buy Local campaigns is that its a whole lot easier to go to one big-box store for almost everything a shopper needs. On the other hand, its a whole lot more fun to walk through downtown, popping into businesses just to see whats there.
Ownership is an important criteria, but is it at the top of what potential customers want to know? An app can be created for nearly any question a consumer might ask, although some of the most widely used enable price comparisons. Internet-savvy shoppers now go online to find products they want and then determine where theyre available. Extending that convenience to locally owned businesses would be an all-around benefit.
Local is a nebulous idea. Does the owner have to live in the community? The county? All year long? What about branches of other Montezuma County businesses, like the Dolores and Mancos banks and Mancos Pizza?
Do franchises count? Local franchisees have made significant investments in their businesses.
Whatever the definition, local is important, and having state legislators recognize that is a good thing.
Local merchants (including the local managers of some non-local businesses) support the community in ways both visible and invisible. Not only do they buy cookies from Girl Scouts and popcorn from Boy Scouts and contribute to school groups, they make certain that quality products and services are available here. Cortez cant compete head to head with Durango and Farmington, any more than those business communities can compete with Denver or Albuquerque, but local merchants care about serving each of their customers in a way that doesnt happen in regional shopping meccas.
And local merchants promote one another, because they know that the wellbeing of the community depends on the success of all of them together. The more businesses in town, and the more they have to offer, the longer each dollar circulates locally and the more people benefit. A chain can pull out of a community and concentrate its efforts elsewhere; a locally owned business needs local customers in order for his or her business to survive and succeed. That breeds good service and community spirit.
Need a widget? It would be handy if a smart phone could locate both the closest and the least expensive. There ought to be an app for that.
Actually, there is. Its called community, and its driven not only by inventory data but by word of mouth. I dont have one but Ill call Bob down the street for you. I love mine, and I got it at Local Business X. When I needed service, Business Y did a great job for me.
Some bright young programmer no doubt will figure out soon enough how to digitize goodwill, and when that happens, it will be more complex than just local ownership, although thats a very good start.