Chamber urging businesses to ‘Buy Lincoln First’

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BY MATT OLBERDING/Lincoln Journal Star

Dick Campbell’s family has been in business in Lincoln for nearly a century, so he knows the importance of supporting local businesses.

That’s why Campbell’s Nurseries & Garden Centers already gets most of its supplies and services from local vendors.

But when asked, Campbell didn’t give a second thought to pledging to buy even more goods and services locally.

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Campbell’s Nurseries & Garden Center Centers uses almost exclusively local contractors and supplies for its Village Gardens development near 56th and Pine Lake Road. (Robert Becker/Lincoln Journal Star)

Campbell’s Nurseries & Garden Center Centers uses almost exclusively local contractors and supplies for its Village Gardens development near 56th and Pine Lake Road. (Robert Becker/Lincoln Journal Star)

“It’s a win-win for everybody when we all get together and try to help grow each other,” said Campbell, who plans to buy an additional 5 percent of his company’s supplies locally.

The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce is hoping other local businesses share Campbell’s sentiment.

The Chamber has started a new program called “Buy Lincoln First.” Businesses are being asked to increase the amount of money they spend with local vendors.

It has started a Web site, www.buylincolnfirst.com, and is doing outreach to let its members know about the program.

Only a handful of businesses have signed up so far, but those that have give the idea rave reviews.

Bo Bryson, who owns Trinity Chiropractic, eagerly signed up to increase his local spending by 5 percent annually over the next three to five years.

“I’m a local business, so I know how important it is to support other businesses,” he said.

While a chiropractic office doesn’t spend a huge amount of money on goods and services, Bryson has already identified at least one change he can make.

His office sells slings used for carrying infants and Bryson said he found a woman in town who makes them.

“I’d much rather support her than order off the Internet,” he said.

Bryson also said he plans to spend more of his own money at local businesses, as well.

“It’s little things like that that you can do,” that make a difference, he said.

The Chamber is hoping to make a lot of those “little things” add up.

Chamber President Wendy Birdsall said it’s estimated that overall, local businesses and government agencies buy $3 billion to $4 billion worth of goods and services annually from vendors outside Lincoln.

The Chamber is asking those businesses to shift 5 percent of their purchases to local vendors, but Birdsall said even a 1 percent change would make a huge difference.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what that would do for our sales tax gap,” she said.

Local sales tax collections, while up slightly for fiscal year 2007, are below projections.

And they’ve been stagnant for awhile, helping to contribute to a $9 million budget shortfall at City Hall.

But increasing sales tax revenue is not the only reason  the Chamber conceived the Buy Lincoln First program, Birdsall said.

If businesses spend more money locally, it could help the beneficiaries expand and create more jobs.

That, in turn, could lead to more money to pay for city services and infrastructure, which are needed to help economic growth.

Businesses that sign up for the program and make a pledge to spend more money locally will be on their honor to fulfill it.

Birdsall said the Chamber won’t be auditing the businesses or asking to see their books.

But she said that if the program is successful, that success will be apparent.

Said Birdsall, “It will show up in the companies’ bottom line, and it will show up in the city’s bottom line.”

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.

On the Web:

www.buylincolnfirst.com