About 60% of local residents’ money is leaving the city and being spent elsewhere, prompting the Chamber to try to raise awareness of the importance of shopping locally.
Shop Local Week starts Monday and about 10 local businesses are taking part in the initiative.
A previous leakage report found how much money leaves the city and is being spent in places like Lawrence and Johnson County, said Jason Musick, Convention and Visitors Bureau president and Chamber programming chair
With the rising need for more homes, infrastructure and other kinds of development in town, keeping tax dollars in Eudora is necessary to make these projects happen, he said.
“We all want nice things – we want great roads, we want great schools, we want sidewalks,” Musick said. “But it takes a lot of money and if we are spending our money outside our community, it’s hard for our community to do those things without the help.”
This is the first year the Chamber has put significant effort into a Shop Local week.
Businesses like local insurance agents, realty, HVAC and other service industry professionals are just as important to support as restaurants and shops, Musick said. Oftentimes service industries are forgotten in terms of shopping local, but it makes a big difference for the community, he said.
It also provides another level of service when residents can call up a local for help with insurance or real-estate needs, he said.
About 63% of the businesses making up the Chamber have one or two employees – meaning they are running the business, marketing and accounting. Musick wants to make sure Chamber members have their voices heard. Shop Local Week is a way to remind people to go shopping on Main Street rather than have something delivered from Amazon, he said.
“Shop local. Get something that’s unique,” he said.
It’s about making meaningful and intentional purchases and thinking about the impact on your city’s mom and pop shops, he said.
Musick knows firsthand how the changing economic conditions have affected small businesses like his own, Barbwire Barbecue.
It’s no secret that small businesses are struggling. Rent is increasing, along with other costs, and margins are getting smaller, he said.
With many of the small businesses in town having only one location, it’s either “sink or swim,” he said. Decreased revenue can’t be compensated for in other locations.
“The small businesses are the backbone of the community. They’re the ones usually quick to respond to offer donations and or support,” he said.
People seem to be more conservative in spending right now, as well, which is also having an impact, he said.
“With ever increasing costs, what’s happening at a national level is adding some unease in purchases,” he said. “I don’t think people are out and about spending money.”
Donna Ginther, an economics professor at KU, said small businesses are going to be especially affected by the higher tariffs. While a large corporation like Walmart has the power to negotiate prices due to high volume, smaller businesses will have to pass the increased import costs down to consumers, she said.
Depending on how the tariffs play out, they could have a negative impact on the number of small businesses in town, she said.
By supporting local shops, customers are also supporting local employees and increasing opportunities for city services because of the increased sales tax, Ginther said.
Continuing to raise awareness and hosting shop local initiatives is how the community works to gain support, she said.
Shopping locally strengthens the community by reinvesting dollars back into the Eudora economy directly, said Jannell Lorenz with Mateo Chiropractic. It also supports creating local jobs and a sense of community and belonging.
Small businesses also tend to offer diverse products and services that sometimes can’t be found in larger chains. There is also a more personalized customer service experience, she said.
“It’s definitely a challenge to keep operating costs at a point where a business can continue to function and be healthy while also making those services and products accessible for your customers,” Lorenz said.
The notion of supporting local families and their business is the most important thing. Businesses invest in schools and the future of the local economy, she said.
Stacie Blubaugh’s family business, Main Street Scoops and Sweets, has been open for about two years. They still have people discovering the shop exists downtown, which shows the need for more awareness about downtown businesses, she said.
It’s easy for residents to hop on the highway and go to Lawrence, but to keep businesses alive downtown they need more shoppers, she said.
“If we want to have a thriving downtown, we’ve just got to be able to shop local whenever we can, to be able to keep our doors open and be able to be a service and a help to the community,” she said.
A lot of people use Main Street to travel to various cities in the outskirts of Eudora, so getting them to stop and shop is something they need to work on, she said. Events like the Main Street Markets will hopefully help draw more people from out of town, as well, she said.
The ice cream shop is a family business that aims to bring in more families, create connections and support the community – commonalities for a lot of small businesses, she said.
Jamie Knabe, owner of Country Road Farms, said she’s in business to give people locally raised meat and fresh eggs, and the hard work she and her family put into it is for the consumer experience.
Word of mouth, liking pages on Facebook and writing reviews for small businesses are ways to be supportive other than just buying products, she said.
Specials are going on throughout Shop Local Week, which is a great time to try new things, Knabe said.
She also wanted to remind residents that just because businesses aren’t on Main Street doesn’t mean they don’t exist, like farms, wineries and others.
Supporting Eudora markets is another way to shop locally. The Main Street Market starts Thursday. The Eudora farmers market starts May 13.
Here’s a list of the businesses having specials next week.
