Our spending choices add up to millions

Keep It Local, by Barbara Lawrence – March 14, 2012

One of the many benefits of living in the area now referred to as the Catawba River District is that we are the geographic center of our universe.  From southern Mountain Island Lake to the Whitewater Center and northern Lake Wylie, the district includes parts of such diverse areas as the Mountain Island community, Belmont and Mount Holly. 

We have easy access to activities and shopping in any direction. Our highways have been used, historically, as trade routes to places such as Charlotte, Lincolnton and Gastonia. In our modern automobile-oriented culture, this ease in access can make spending time in our own neighborhood and shopping at local businesses a greater challenge.

Catawba River District (red line)

Nurturing our local communities

There is a fine line between advantages and disadvantages. Supporting our local downtown and neighborhood businesses has some important advantages. When we spend locally, we stabilize our local business environment. This means that the places close to home where we can bank, buy goods, gas and groceries and go to dinner will continue to be there. With gas prices climbing  again, residents benefit from having these services nearby.

Hard numbers about our spending choices

Companies such as Nielsen provide research on consumer spending patterns and what they call “opportunity gaps”.  This data gives businesses a snapshot of how much and where residents are spending money and plays a role in location decisions. Every dollar you spend counts, especially when added to spending behaviors of others in our communities. 

The following 2010 data is taken from a 5-mile radius, with the center near the Catawba River about a mile north of Belmont.  “Demand” is how much people who live in this target area spent on a particular category of goods and services. “Retail sales” is what was actually spent on those goods and services within the same area. “Opportunity gap” is the difference between the two. The figures have been rounded to the nearest $1 million.

• Groceries: Demand for groceries and other foods was $166 million. Retail sales of these items, within the 5-mile radius, totaled $144 million. This creates an opportunity "gap" of $22 million that could be spent in our neighborhoods.
• Jewelry: Demand for jewelry was $12 million.  Retail sales of jewelry were $6 million. This creates an opportunity "gap" of $6 million that could be spent in our neighborhoods.
• Cars, trucks etc.: One item providing more sales to our area from other areas is in the category of cars, trucks and other powered transportation.  There we have an "opportunity surplus" of $92 million generated in our community. 

The list goes on and on. This is an example of the impact our everyday decisions have on combined revenues in our neighborhoods.  By far, most of the categories indicate we could be buying more locally than we do.

About Barbara Lawrence - Barbara has a background in economic development and real-estate research. Her work has included revitalization of downtown Boone, downtown Gastonia and now Mount Holly.