Watch our new BuySC ad by Coal Powered Filmworks!

Our gorgeous, professionally shot and edited BuySC ad/PSA is done! Loving the little "BuySC" flags stuck into the rows of sweets at Tiffany's.

Huge thanks to Wade Sellers of Coal Powered Filmworks for the incredible production quality and highly professional, friendly manner while shooting. And thanks to Be Beep a Top Shop in Forest Acres, Cayce Ace Hardware in Parkland Shopping Center, Tiffany's Bakery on Two Notch, and 2G's Clothing in Five Points for letting us use their shops as locations for the shoot!

Video still at Tiffany's Bakery: Wade Sellers, Coal Powered Filmworks

Did you know that you triple the local impact of each dollar when you shop at a locally owned, independent business? With its action campaigns and its free SC small business directory at BuySC.org, BuySC joins "shop local" movements across America, like Lowcountry Local First, the 3/50 Project, Small Business Saturday, Plaid Friday, and AMIBA's America Unchained. (See more, below.)

Who's behind it? We are! We're the SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit advocacy organization in Columbia, South Carolina. Join us!

Thanks again, Wade! We love it!

On the subject of shopping local, we just received the most recent AMIBA newsletter; it's a great resource! Reposted in part here, for your reading pleasure:

'Tis the Season to Go Local

"Despite the annual Black Friday media frenzy, our annual "America/Canada Unchained" campaign and grassroots counterparts like "Plaid Friday" helped generate buzz around the continent. While some of you have expressed concern over various companies promoting their own "buy local" brands, we simply encourage you to present them as evidence for the growing energy behind the Localization Movement and use them to amplify your message."

"AMIBA board member Stacy Mitchell and BALLE co-founder Laury Hammel teamed up for this Boston Globe commentary, while the Boston-area Concord IBA, Somerville Local First and Cambridge Local First all generated local media attention using the America Unchained or Plaid Friday concept.
The Fayetteville IBA (AR) used "Indie Bingo" to draw attention and customers to member businesses, while the Louisville IBA (KY) is using a Holiday Passport program to entice more patronage of its members. Local First Utah is promoting Take 10/Tell 10/Shift 10 during the holidays."

"The Boulder County (CO) and Flagstaff (AZ) IBAs both held early holiday events with business member expos, food and drink, prizes and more. Debbie Leavitt of FIBA reported event bartenders saying Christmas parties are mostly boring, but they loved the energy and fun at FIBAs event. Don't underestimate the power of a great party to build cohesiveness and attract supporters!"

See the whole newsletter here: http://mim.io/67c28 and "Like" AMIBA on Facebook!

A local success + Happy Hardware Day Nov. 20!

Who's got the cheapest lumber in town? The cheapest mortar?

Think the best prices are way out at Lowe's? 

Think again. 

Shuman-Owens Supply Co., located just 5 minutes from downtown Columbia, SC, is a brick's throw from the S.C. State Fair Grounds and Gamecock Stadium.

And it's one of the last independent, locally-owned hardware stores in Columbia.








Despite the slump in the building trades and consumer flight to suburban big box retailers, this Shop Road standard is somehow creaming the big box retailers. How are they managing to succeed in such a tough climate?

Buy SC Local Success Spotlight:

 
Local Hardware Store Hammers the Big Box

What is this small business doing right?

"Well, for starters," says local stonemason Jefferson Hubbell, "Shuman-Owens is cheaper than Lowe's for just about everything I need on the job."

He gives an example: "If you need a 75 lb. bag of mortar for a masonry job," he notes, "Shuman-Owens will charge you $8, while a smaller, 70-pound bag will cost you $10 at Lowe's.

This really makes a difference when you're in a business that requires hundreds of bags of mortar per year."

(Choosing this local hardware store for just 10 bags of mortar per week for a year would indeed save you over $1000.

Not exactly chump change.)


The low prices don't quit on building materials, even as a project scales upwards.

"If your client needs a million dollars' worth of western cedar timber for his  post-and-beam hunting lodge," Hubbell adds, "Shuman-Owens will source it for less per board foot than pretty much any competitor in the Southeast."

A true family-run business

"The service makes a big difference for me," says Hubbell. "It's a family-run business."

""I've been going into Shuman-Owens for near 20 years, and it feels good. We know each other." 

While there are certainly a fair share of friendly, knowledgeable staff working at big box retailers like Lowe's, it's hard to beat the personal level of service that a local, independently-owned business can provide.

It's up to consumers to support these local businesses by voting with your hardware dollars. 

Read reporter Kristy Eppley Rupon's recent story in The State, "Hammered: Hardware stores pushed out by big-box retailers, economy" 

http://www.thestate.com/2010/08/23/1429381/hammered-hardware-stores-pushed.html#ixzz13200kYHa

And then take action!

1. Take your free spot in the new Buy SC directory of locally owned small businesses:

Sign up here: http://www.buysc.org

2. Fly the Buy SC badge on your website, Facebook fan page, etc., and ask us for a Buy SC sticker -- just like the one you see below on the front door of Shuman-Owens!

3. Talk up Happy Hardware Day, Saturday, Nov. 20! It's the first installment of our new "Local Has It" action campaign series here at the nonprofit SC Small Business Chamber, and we're really excited.

Shuman-Owens flies the Buy SC badge!

HAPPY HARDWARE DAY!

On Saturday, November 20, 2010, go and shop at independent, locally owned hardware stores throughout South Carolina. Spread the word!

You can print the Happy Hardware Day poster below, upload it to your website and Facebook, and pass on this call to action to your own social networks. It's up to all of us!

Spread the word! Let's Buy SC!

Huge thanks to the talented graphic designer Karen Williford, who designed the Happy Hardware Day poster *and* the Buy SC logo for the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.