CHAMBER
HOPES RESIDENTS WILL “SHOP
LOCAL”
Chamber
president Ken Kindley talks about the
"Shop Local, Shop Lincoln
County" program during a Thursday
morning press conference.
By
Jon Mayhew – LINCOLN COUNTY
– Members of the Lincolnton/Lincoln
County Chamber of Commerce turned to the
media Thursday to help promote a program
that’s been on The Carolina Scoop
for the past several months.
In an informal press conference, Chamber
president Ken Kindley rolled out a
“Shop Local, Shop Lincoln
County” program that’s intended
for Lincoln County residents to keep
dollars in Lincoln County.
Kindley admitted that part of the idea of
the program came from
“Lincoln’s Innovative News
Channel On Line Now.”
“I’ve seen the program on the
Web site,” said Kindley.
“I’ve heard positive comments
about it.”
Kindley echoed a budgetary issue apparent
at both the city and county level: the
possibility that sales tax revenue may
have shrunk as the result of a lesser
than greener Christmas shopping holiday.
“The program is more important than
ever before,” said Kindley.
“It’s important to keep the
sales tax revenue in the county.”
Kindley said in 23 years of being at the
Lincolnton/Lincoln County Chamber of
Commerce, he’s never seen Lincoln
County “pulled into a recession like
this one.”
“We’ve tried this program twice
in the last 20 years,” said Kindley.
“For the last several years,
we’ve been running public service
announcements on WLON radio
(1050AM).”
Kindley added that business owners across
the county have touted the importance of
the new program.
“If you talk to business owners,
they’ll tell you it’s important
to shop locally,” said Kindley.
The Chamber turned to the media to
promote the program as part of tightening
its own financial belt; while Chamber
membership is around 700 members, the
number of grand openings has been cut in
half in 2008 over 2007.
According to Kindley, the Chamber held a
record 61 grand openings and three
ground-breakings in 07; in contrast, the
organization held only 39 grand openings
and one ground-breaking in 2008.
Kindley remained optimistic about the
current recession.
“Hopefully, we’re going to pull
out of this soon,” said Kindley.
Chamber board chairman Ken Morris
reiterated a story over Christmas about
the importance of shopping locally.
“I was in the Walmart in
Mooresville, preparing to pick up a
couple of CDs for my wife,” said
Morris. “I put them back because I
decided to purchase them in Lincoln
County.”
Morris added besides being a potentially
tough year for the Chamber, it’s
going to be a tough budget year for both
Lincolnton and Lincoln County.
“They’re not going to play
Santa Claus this year, that’s for
sure,” said Morris.
The Chamber gets funding from both the
city and county each year to operate a
Visitor’s Information Center within
the Chamber. Chamber officials estimate
if both government entities ran a VIC
themselves, the budget would be about
$750,000.
The Chamber’s Promotions Committee
– headed by Cheryl Burgess –
said the program is one of many avenues
the Chamber has to promote local
businesses.
“It’s an opportunity to
encourage and foster economic
growth,” said Burgess. “In
shopping locally, you have to look at the
big picture. You’re saving gas and
saving time.”
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