US Unchained

by Nick Coons
Nov 24, 2004

This past Saturday was US Unchained Day. Unfortunately, I found out about the specific date a little too late to post this up last week before Saturday. The idea is this -- There are good groups of people that like to promote local businesses in their communities for a variety of reasons. And US Unchained Day is a day where individuals are urged to limit their shopping for that day to locally-owned businesses.

A study shows that 45% of money spent with a locally owned business stays in the local economy, compared to only 13% spent with chains. This is important for several reasons. First off, local business owners live in the same community that you do, and they reinvest their money back into that community. They also help promote things that make their community a better place to live, such as events, local charities, and the arts. Large chain stores send their profits to their corporate headquarters out of state.

Being a very transient state (meaning that most people that live here are not from here, and they don't necessarily consider Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

their home), Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

suffers from the effects of the "Walmarts" of the world more than many other places. People move to Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

and complain that there is no "culture" here. Those same people live here for a portion of the year (like snowbirds), and then take their money back home with them to help out what they consider to be their local community, which ends up being someplace other than Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

. And the "lack of culture" that we have is self-perpetuating.

The fact is that Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

has massive amounts of culture, but because it doesn't have the relative financial backing that it does in other places, it is not well-known to most people. In fact, it can take a lot of digging to find it. One great place to start is with AZCR, or Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

Chain Reaction. This is a coalition of locally-owned businesses whose primary goal is to convince consumers of the benefits of shopping from locally-owned businesses.

Arizona Paths is an activist in promoting the local Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

economy and it's small businesses. If you're interested in helping us get the word out, I encourage you to invite your friends to join our Weekly Newsletter, as this will keep them involved and armed with information so they know exactly why it directly benefits them to shop with a locally-owned business.