Campaign gears up to boost local spending

A campaign is underway to stimulate a one-day spending spree in Jackson County as a way to stimulate the local economy.

The “$25 on 25” effort encourages residents to spend $25 on Sept. 25 with businesses in Jackson County.

Chamber of commerce President Art Kimbrough said he can see the merit in such a commitment.

“If 10,000 Jackson County folks did that, it would mean $250,000 in additional spending, if in fact they’re spending money they weren’t already planning to spend on another day here,” he said. “Let’s say someone had a hair appointment where they were going to spend X amount anyway, but, to participate in $25 on 25, they added a massage they hadn’t intend to have, then that’s new spending.”

Residents who decide to stay in the county and shop, as opposed to heading to Dothan, Tallahassee or Panama City, would also make a difference.

“If they were planning to spend $25 on a shirt at a mall in Tallahassee, and they decided instead to spend it here for a shirt or something else, then that’s new spending, too, money that has been redirected back into the local economy that would have gone elsewhere,” Kimbrough said. “For our small, local businesses, it could be a real boost if people got behind it and spent additional dollars that they weren’t planning to spend.”

But Kimbrough said it could have another, possibly more important, effect as well.

“Something like this can instill a sense of community pride, a little bit of self-control over things that seem bigger than ourselves. The economic decline, nationwide, may seem too big for us to do anything about, but if you break it down, reduce it to something smaller, then we have a sense of power over our destiny because we have a real chance to do something in our own little corner of the world,” he said.

“It’s a do-able thing for most folks, a choice they can make in their personal spending that could have a larger, positive effect. That small barrage could be a healthy sign, and a particularly healthy step if people aren’t cannibalizing the spending they’ve already planned. It’s people saying, ‘I can do something to help my neighbor, my economy,’ and that is probably as important as anything as a symbolic impact,” he said.