Uhlich leads tour, touts buying from locally owned stores
by Teya Vitu on Nov. 29, 2008, under Edge, Local, Special
Virginia Ortega purchases unique ruglike coasters while shopping for Christmas gifts at Aztec Mexican Imports, 2925 N. Oracle Road.
Virginia Ortega did her bit Friday for the city-proclaimed Buy Local Day on the day after T-Day. She bought four woven drink coasters at Aztec Mexican Imports on North Oracle Road for her co-workers.
“Look, they only cost $2.69 apiece,” said Ortega, who works at Pima Community College.
Ortega joined a morning shopping spree through downtown and the near North Side led by Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, who proclaimed Nov. 28 Buy Local Day.
Uhlich a year ago got in touch with the Local First Arizona group in Phoenix. A Tucson chapter was formed this summer to instill local shoppers with the importance of adding local shops to their itinerary of national retailers.
“If we can shift just 10 percent of our shopping to locally owned stores, we can retain 1,000 jobs,” said Uhlich, citing research by Civic Economics, an economic analysis firm based in Austin, Texas, and Chicago.
Civics Economics, in an analysis in Phoenix, found a dollar spent at a local shop has three times more impact in the local economy than that same dollar spent at a national retailer. Money spent on national retailers generally is siphoned off to a national headquarters.
Lisette DeMars, Local First’s Tucson membership coordinator, counters skeptics’ claims that big boxes are good for the economy because they have hundreds of employees.
“A big box brings two jobs but takes away three,” said DeMars, a manager at Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle’s, 4811 E. Grant Road, a locally owned toy store.
A few invited shoppers joined Uhlich at each of her shopping stops, which included the Indian Village Trading Post, 110 S. Church Ave.; Perri Jewelers, 13 N. Stone Ave.; Desert Bloom, 27 N. Stone Ave.; Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave., Tucson Artistic Gifts, 421 N. Fourth Ave.; Aztec Mexican Imports, 2925 N. Oracle Road and Don’s Hot Rod Shop, 2811 N. Stone Ave.
Melanie Morrison spotted colorful socks with Arizona themes at Indian Village.
“I need to do a consultation,” Morrison said while dialing on her cell phone. After the call, she said: “Nix on the socks . . . I think the playing cards are good. Let me check on that . . . Success!”
Morrison is co-owner of MEB Management Services, a major local apartment management company. She is moving MEB’s offices and 32 employees downtown in mid-December. She figures her employees’ daily lunch outings downtown will help stimulate the local economy.
Sharon Bart bought a green metal gecko for $23 at Aztec Mexican Imports. She owns The Running Shop, 3055 N. Campbell Ave., and Worldly Soles, 3025 N. Campbell Ave., and shops at locally-owned stores as much as she can.
“I think (people) could at least give local stores an opportunity to match the price or be surprised that local stores aren’t more,” Bart said.
Local stores do bear a stigma of costing more. DeMars said that can be true, but at the same time small businesses may have better quality, offer more customer service, and, if nothing else, sell things one would not find at a national retailer.
“People walk into a business and say, ‘I have $20. Show me around.’ You can’t do that at a big box store,” DeMars said. “You can find high-quality, unique items for under $20.”
Uhlich has gotten criticism for focusing on promoting local shopping, but she said strengthening the economy is vital. Shopping at locally owned business is a part of that, she said.
“I think it’s an appropriate priority,” Uhlich said. “It’s not instead of anything.” A subtle, friendly rivalry already seems to be in the works between the Phoenix and Tucson Local First groups.
Local First Arizona is five years old in Phoenix but never got a Buy Local proclamation until Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon did so after Uhlich made a Buy Local proclamation in Tucson on Oct. 18. Local First balloons sent from Phoenix to decorate the businesses taking part in Uhlich’s event were maroon and gold.
“We beat Phoenix to the punch,” said DeMars, who noticed that Phoenix went for a week without reacting after Tucson announced its Buy Local Day. “Next year, we’ll (proclaim) a month to top Phoenix.”
‘Unique and special’
The Local First Arizona chapter in Tucson was launched in summer and a Tucson button became active in September on localfirstaz.com. The Tucson chapter has about 85 members with 10 new member businesses joining in the past week or two and the Tucson Originals restaurant considering joining, DeMars said.
Uhlich’s shopping spree uncovered a wide variety of inexpensive items.
“There are a lot of stores that have incredible bargains,” Uhlich said. “There’s so many places that can compete on price.”
Willie Chacon, owner of Aztec Mexican Imports, pointed out a collection of glazed pottery with 40 percent mark-offs. A $125 23-inch mounted pot is marked down to $75 and a $60 18-inch pot now has a $36 sticker.
“People are surprised by the variety (of merchandise) and they’re surprised by the price,” Chacon said. “We have competitive prices.”
Price consciousness is on the mind at Tucson Artistic Gifts, one of Uhlich’s stops. The store carries bead art that owner Sherry Hyde created on ceramic roof tiles and flagstones; prints from Oklahoma; reptile rock boxes by a local artists, and a variety of other artistic trinkets.
“From day one, we decided we want to be an affordable gift shop,” said Bob Hyde, who was running his wife’s shop Friday.
Locally owned shops bear a variety of positive and negative buzzwords: “expensive” and “limited merchandise” on the negative side, and “unique,” and “better customer service” on the positive side.
“There’s something to say about quality and uniqueness when buying gifts,” Uhlich said. “When I hear people talk about Tucson, they want it to stay unique and special.”
She said adding locally owned stores to the shopping list is one way to do that as well as add to the local economy.
Gisela Jernigan was not part of Uhlich’s shopping party, but the two acquaintances ran into each other at Antigone Books. Jernigan could spontaneously launch into a spiel on buying locally.
“If you don’t see something, they order it for you (at Antigone) and they get it quicker for you than big chain stores,” said Jernigan, who leads a political books discussion group at Antigone. “You get a lot more personal attention (at small businesses). I think it would be worth the extra price to preserve the local character and the personal interest from employees.”
Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich (left) and Diana Rhoads check the colorful lizard selection as they shop for gifts at Aztec Mexican Imports.
Councilmember Karin Uhlich shops for gifts at Aztec Mexican Imports, 2925 N. Oracle Road. She is pushing a buy-local attitude among shoppers.
