A reminder to shoppers during the holiday shopping season, you may want to consider the benefits of shopping with local businesses in Central New York to grow the local economy. For seven years, a local organization’s mission has been to see if consumers will actually commit to making a ten percent shift of their purchases with locally-owned businesses. Syracuse First is hosting its annual Buy Local Bash next Monday at the F-Shed Regional Market. Executive Director Chris Fowler says the number of vendors continues to increase for the event.
“Over 120 businesses are participating. We have a record number of food businesses. So, we’re going to have nearly 70 kinds of food and beverage vendors from all over Central New York. We have some experiential type of businesses, participating this year.”
Fowler adds the message to purchase local products has being well-received by residents. The Owner of Metro Fitness in Downtown Syracuse and DeWitt, Randy Sabourin says collaboration with other local businesses gets the word out.
“We do it with everything from catering to some retail stores. If we can provide some internal marketing from them and promote maybe an upcoming event or discount for them, they’re more than happy to collaborate and get the word out to their network or their list of patrons about maybe a special or an event that’s coming up for our business.”
Sabourin says he also purchases workout gear for his health clubs from Syracuse Fitness. The relationship evolved from when he trained the current owner years ago when he was 14. There are many successful local businesses since Syracuse First was launched. Fowler says local products are stocked more frequently at other local businesses.
“Baked good for local bakeries, or the coffee will be from a local roaster. You know, the small indications that the power of collaboration is really building something here and I like to think that a big part of that is people understanding that there’s a value to that. Not just anecdotally but, real value.”
He adds there are a lot of barriers for local entrepreneurs to maximize their potential, including access to capital. The Buy Local Bash will be held Monday night from 5 to 9 PM at the F-Shed at the Regional Market in Syracuse. Tickets are available at the door or online (click here).
