The City of Orlando is starting a "Buy Local" program, where stores display stickers in their window saying "Buy Local" and locals get free discount cards. What does "local" mean to the city of Orlando? Not what you think."Under the Orlando program, any company with a location inside the city that pays business taxes to the city can participate — including chain stores with out-of-state headquarters."Local merchant Julie Norris responded to the City of Orlando's effort with a blog post on the Ourlando.com website. Apparently Orlando's program is modeled after Austin's. According Norris, Austin's website directly opposes this, as the Austin program is specifically for locally-owned businesses. Here's a great pull quote:
"Perhaps a more accurate title for the “Buy Local” campaign would be “Buy Anything that lines the governement’s pocket with Sales Tax, to heck with focusing on local independent businesses like the statistics we quote.” Course, that just isn’t as catchy."The current President of Austin's effort responded.
One of the benefits to merchants for registering with the program is a listing on their site. Until they get that up and running, here is our locals-only list to get you started. If we left some locals off, leave a comment here.
I've been traveling the country and have come across several "Buy Local" stickers and posters. Here's a sampling:
Utah | Madison | Columbus
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Eat. Drink. Better.: When Local Isn’t: Deceiving ‘Buy Local Orlando’ Program Supports City Taxes, not Local Businesses
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