The 3/50 Spending Movement: Queered
Two of my favorite local small businesses have signed on as supporters of the ‘œ3/50’ movement. The point is to save local small businesses by spending $50.00 at three different independent stores each month. That’s a total of $150/month to make a huge impact on your local economic recovery. The 3/50 website reminds us:
‘œIf half the population spent $50 a month in locally owned independent businesses, it would generate more than 42.6 billion in revenue. For every $100 spend in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home.’
Of course I then wondered if we gays can find $150/month in LGBT’“owned storefronts.
This does not mean we have to buy ‘œnew retail items.’ It can include used, consignment and antique items. It could include store-front businesses which provide a service like dog washing and grooming. This is the way I go since I am still on my “Buy Nothing New in 2009” kick.
For the majority of us who don’t have any extra moolah floating around, are there three places in your life where you can move your spending from a chain business to a locally owned business or from a chain business to a queer-owned independent business? This includes your weekly date dinner restaurant, your happy hour, your stylish apparel, your walking shoes, your pet food shoppe, locally queer-owned yoga, gym or dance studio?
The trick, of course, is to ask around about great LGBT businesses or to find a copy of your local LGBT Directory, Services Network or Chamber of Commerce! Then look at your last month’s bank statement to see where you spent and decide how you will spend more consciously. I dare you.
Photo credit: the350project.net.
I love this! What a great initiative. It’s like the 100 mile diet. Only about spending and the local economy.
Great idea Moorea. I bet you could include the farmers’ market in this challenge.
The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is a great resource for finding all kinds of queer businesses. You can sort their business directory by state and by the type of business you need.
Well, it’s not a dare I’d take you up on! If you exclude food and gas, I don’t usually spend $150/month on miscellaneous consumer items anyway. And I have yet to find any LGBT-owned grocery stores or gas stations in my area — or indeed, few LGBT-owned businesses in any line of business that I’m likely to patronize regularly. I don’t generally buy books or coffee or stylish apparel or flowers, don’t go to bars or do yoga or get my pets groomed, etc. It’s rather interesting, actually, that businesses which identify as LGBT-owned tend to sell products in the more discretionary categories. By contrast, I have yet to find a septic-tank-pumping company or heating-oil company that specifically touts themselves as LGBT-owned.
And sometimes the only LGBT-owned business isn’t an effective option, anyway. My partner and I are in the midst of choosing a contractor to replace a furnace, and the only lesbian plumber who advertises locally never called us back, but several straight plumbers did. Oh well. In the end, we need a furnace, and a contractor who returns calls the first time around, more than we need to hypothetically support one community over another.