Lexington, KY - When a "support your local business" group began to take shape in Lexington last year, Steve Baron figured it would appeal mostly to retail establishments like his own CD Central. But as the membership of Local First Lexington grew, Baron was surprised to see the number of more service-related businesses joining the ranks.
Getting on board were landscapers, financial services and salons. "That was sort of eye-opening to me," said Baron, who is the president of the group. But the service businesses, some of which have a retail component, fit Local First's criteria of being independent, home-grown and locally operated.
"They see it as an avenue to get their name out," Baron said.
Their interest in the Local First movement has helped the group grow to more than 150 members. Baron said the group is not doing any hard-sell recruiting, but its mission of supporting the local economy and relatively low membership fee have fueled the growth.
"It's exceeding everyone's expectations," he said.
One of the members listed under the "Service" label on the Local First Web page is Ashley's Wheel and Brake, a longtime fixture in downtown.
After learning about Local First, co-owner Stan Eldridge was impressed with the leadership's vision beyond their own storefronts.
"They're really doing it with the good of the community in mind," Eldridge said.
What they have done so far is provide a networking and support group during a very tough economic time and raise some awareness of the benefits of supporting local businesses and help identify them.
"Just to gather at meetings ... there is a certain amount of therapy in that," Eldridge said.
The group has handed out thousands of bumper stickers and window stickers for storefronts, and members often use the Local First Lexington logo in advertising and on their Web sites as a link to the Local First home page, where consumers can find a directory of all the members.
Eldridge said he knows he has gotten some customers from the appeal of the Local First brand.
"It's just another way of keeping yourself in front of people," he said.
The group's most recent meeting/mixer/therapy session was at the Barrel House Distilling Co., which opened last year on Manchester Street.
In the future, Local First, which was set up as a nonprofit political organization, would like to use its collective voice to encourage government to follow and enact policies that are friendly to local businesses. As examples, Baron cites discouraging tax breaks for national chain businesses and giving local businesses a preference when bidding on public projects.
Being able to list more than 150 members will help.
"Lobby efforts go hand in hand with more members," Eldridge said.
More members also means more ideas being kicked around from a pretty smart pool of business people. Eldridge said he has heard a lot of good ideas, but the group is still hashing out which ones to run with. The group also is looking beyond Lexington for ideas and finding out what has worked in other communities. The group has joined the American Independent Business Alliance, which has offered support to independent businesses since 1998.
One of the more festive ideas that has come to life was the March Madness community marching band. While it may not win any talent contests, it has helped toot the group's horn, made some of Lexington's parades a little more colorful and provided some good, old-fashioned camaraderie.
The group also served as a corporate sponsor for a Thursday Night Live concert on Oct. 1 at Cheapside Park, where member businesses planned to set up tables around the park to hand out coupons or fliers and talk with potential customers.
And Local First is working on more collective marketing projects, especially as the holiday shopping season approaches.
"We are fighting against huge companies that have huge ad budgets," Baron said. "There are a lot of great local businesses that don't have big ad budgets individually."
Baron said he knows that there has been a shift by
American consumers away from local businesses. "We're not going to change that overnight," he said. "But in the long run, we think we can change that mindset."