Keep shopping elsewhere and eventually you'll live in a ghost town.
Louisiana hopes a new program helps it avoid the fate of many small communities that have lost jobs and businesses to larger cities.
It's called "Buy Local," and it's a cooperative effort of the Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, Louisiana Economic Development Committee and Mayor Don Giltner's Office of Economic Development.
Organizers say Louisiana already has dozens of busineses that can provide just about everything big box retailers do, but residents just don't realize it.
"Our goal is to educate our community as to where they can get what," said Karen Stoeckley, chamber president. "It's an excellent idea."
"It's a business-oriented program," added Kathy Smith, chairman of the development committee. "It will help people see how much they spend out of town and the impact of it."
Smith and Carol Oldani, who presented the program to the chamber, heard discussion of it at the recent National Main Street Conference in Philadelphia. About 60 communities around the nation are participating.
"Now is the time to push this type of thing," Smith said. "We can only hope that it will move."
Gas prices will help sell the program. With oil companies jacking the cost of fuel almost weekly, Stoeckley says it just makes economic sense to shop locally.
"You're going to save money, keep the tax base in town and support your local merchants," she said.
The chamber also will make up fliers that businesses can put in shoppers' bags and produce bumperstickers with the "buy local" logo.
Local non-profit groups will be encouraged to get items for their fund-raisers from Louisiana merchants. The idea is that what goes around comes around.
"We're going to make people aware of why it makes a difference in the quality of their life and the quality of life in the community," Stoeckley said. "It helps everybody."
A town meeting on the program is planned, but a date has not been set.
More information is available by calling the chamber at (573) 754-5921 or logging on to www.louisiana-mo.com.
