President's Letter

Welcome to the Homegrown El Paso web site. This is our chance to tell our current members what we’ve been doing to stretch their dues as far as possible and to let other locally owned independent businesses know more about Homegrown and why they should join our efforts.

Homegrown El Paso grew out of meetings of concerned El Paso citizens that took place throughout 2005. At these meetings we lamented that everywhere you go in America you see and hear more of the same … you see the same big box stores and the same franchise restaurants and hear the same complaints about money and decision making leaving town and local not-for-profits receiving lower levels of donations when locals do business with businesses that aren’t independent and locally owned.

Why should you as a consumer or business owner care with whom you do business and where your money goes after it leaves your wallet or purse? We see a few simple yet powerful reasons:

When you buy from locally owned, independent businesses, more of your money stays in El Paso. Studies have shown that up to three times as much money stays in the local economy when you buy from locals instead of out-of-town businesses. Local businesses buy more products from local suppliers, use local services such as accountants, attorneys and ad agencies, and reinvest profits in town instead of sending that money to distant corporate offices.
You’ll have a broader array of products and services to choose from in an economy with thriving independents. Mexican food restaurants in El Paso are a wonderful example. You don’t find as much franchised Mexican food here as you would in other cities because our local restaurants offer superior quality and fantastic variety at unbelievable prices. That diversity should be available to you in more things you buy.
Local charitable organizations are finding it harder to survive and thrive in an era of out-of-town business ownership. Small, independent businesses make lots of local donations, often without much fanfare. Yes, we hear about it when a big chain contributes a few thousand dollars to a local organization, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of unheralded donations made by independent local businesses. (The next time you’re looking at the items donated to a silent auction at a charitable event notice how many are from local companies.) By buying homegrown, you’re also helping to strengthen our local charities.

Here at Homegrown El Paso we’d like to offer a few challenges.

First, we challenge locally owned, independent businesses to do the things necessary to earn the hard-earned dollars of local consumers. We don’t expect anyone to do business with homegrown businesses just because we ask them to. Our businesses have to offer a level of quality in our products and services that’s worth it to consumers.

And we have a challenge for you, the public. Look for more opportunities to buy from local businesses—especially the members of Homegrown El Paso. We know you can’t buy everything from locals, but if we all just shift a percentage of our purchases to Homegrown businesses, we could have a great impact.

Finally, we ask other locally owned, independent businesses to join Homegrown El Paso. There’s a membership application at the site. Once you confirm on the form that your business is eligible, please fill out the form and send it with your annual dues. You’ll quickly be listed in our online directory at the web site, and you’ll receive store window decals for your business and be included in our next print directory.

Don Baumgardt
President

I Go Local Because I love El Paso

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President's Letter