Category Archives: Economics

Celebrate Nat’l Travel & Tourism Week in Southern Arizona May 4-12, 2013

TweetTravel and tourism in Arizona brings more than 37 million national and international visitors to our state each year. Those visitors spend over $18 billion throughout the state. In Tucson and Southern Arizona tourism generates nearly $2.6 billion in direct … Continue reading

Posted in Arizona, Contests, Economics, Events, Exploring Arizona, Local First Movement, Social Media, Staycation, Tucson & Southern Arizona | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Three Great Green Reasons to Shop Locally! (The Power of Choice)

TweetBy Gina Murphy-Darling, reprinted with permission from Mrs. Green News Every time you make a purchase, you are making a choice. The choice is OURS! We have the power to strengthen and enrich our communities. It’s that simple. Short back … Continue reading

Posted in 10% Shift, Arizona, Economics, Green, Local First Movement | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Maricopa Farm Tour takes steps to localize school lunches

Tweet“How can we get more local foods into our school cafeterias?” It’s a question we hear at Local First Arizona (LFA) often and while it seems to be an easy question to answer, it is not as cut and dry … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Arizona, Economics, Local Food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Buy It Where You Try It! – AMIBA’s Campaign Against “Showrooming”

Showrooming is a term that has been adopted for consumers that use local businesses in their community to try out or get information about items they want to buy, and then turn around and purchase those items from a remote or online retailer. Continue reading

Posted in Businesses, Economics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scott’s Local Business Corner Tells Us the 4 Big Benefits to Shopping Local

We get this question quite frequently: Why is it important to shop local? There are so many reasons why supporting local businesses is so crucial, but Scott’s Marketplace does a great job of picking out the top four big benefits, displayed nicely in these graphics! Continue reading

Posted in Businesses, Economics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Loyal to the Soil Brings Arizona Product Suppliers Together

TweetWeb-Based Platform Connecting Local Retailers Needs Feedback from LFA Members! Local startup Loyal to the Soil needs your input! This new organization, started by the owners Bunky Boutique, Merzproject Architects, SkyMall and Blinktank,  is focused on bringing local product suppliers together with retailers in an … Continue reading

Posted in Arizona, Businesses, Economics, Greater Phoenix, Local First Movement, Northern Arizona | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Top Job-Creating Companies in Arizona are Local Businesses

The Phoenix Business Journal recently published an article on the Top 10 job-creating companies in Arizona based on the findings of Inc. magazine. We were not surprised to find that many of these job creators were local businesses, and members of Local First Arizona! Continue reading

Posted in Economics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thinking About Local Businesses on Election Day

With Election Day just one week away (on November 6), we have many candidates and many issues to consider. Stacy Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance created a helpful guide for determining which candidates support independent and local businesses. Continue reading

Posted in Economics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Study: Spending locally generates four times more economic benefit

Previous studies have shown that spending your money locally reaps a substantial economic benefit for communities. Some studies indicated that the benefit is two-fold, while others have shown that the economic benefit is three times as much. Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Local First Movement | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Local Businesses: Making Communities Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise

We love our local businesses and their unique impact on our communities. But now there is research to show that local businesses are more beneficial to our community than we ever thought before. Continue reading

Posted in 10% Shift, Economics, Local First Movement | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment