Written By Robin Shepherd
• Small businesses account for nearly three-quarters of all businesses in Morgan Hill.
• Employers with less than 9 employees generate $ 1.1 million in sales tax revenue to the City of Morgan Hill.
Shop Gilroy – Spice up the Holidays
Garlic may have put Gilroy on the map, but Gilroy is about more than garlic. Tammy Brownlow, President of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation( GEDC), offers this perspective:“ Support the local economy in your shopping decisions. Keep the money in the community. Think about the multiplier effect. For every $ 10 spent at a local biz, $ 7 stays here through taxes, payroll and other expenditures.”
“ Many of our local merchants generate a majority of their annual revenue during the holiday season. Local sales taxes going to the city general fund do help pay for our police, fire department, road maintenance and parks. To the extent that it replaces local shopping, online purchases cut into those sales tax revenues.
“ Shopping local really has a broad impact on local economies. In Gilroy we have about 1,800 small businesses— not just retail products, but all types of goods and services— that account for 75 % of all the jobs in the City, about 16,000 jobs. We have a positive pull factor with high quality retail outlets that bring people from outside in. But it’ s our local businesses that really generate revenue for the city with very little retail leakage.
“ It’ s been well documented that small business owners serve on commissions and boards, give to local nonprofits, and are more attached to the community. From the research I’ ve seen, three quarters of small business sales are sourced locally, and local small businesses naturally look for opportunities to do business with each other.
The GEDC works with Gilroy Welcome Center, the Gilroy Downtown Association and Gilroy’ s chamber of commerce as well as the City of Gilroy.
“ People know it’ s important to support the small local businesses, but it’ s not always top of mind in consumer buying decisions.
Melanie Corona, Coordinator for Gilroy Downtown business Association( GDBA), said during the holiday season there’ s strong collaboration between GDBA, the Gilroy Chamber, downtown merchants and local nonprofits in terms of supporting special events including the holiday parade.
Corona also talked about GDBA’ s involvement as a member of the California Mainstreet Business Alliance( CAMBA).
“ We’ ve adopted CAMBA’ s four-point approach to downtown revitalization in order to create economic vitality, a unique sense of place, and a strong commitment to the community by all stakeholders. We formed committees epa. gov gsi-net. com newmoa. org clu-in. org itrcweb. org statisticbrain. com census. gov colorado. gov greenstudents. com
Produced by Custom Made in Partnership with Ghergich & Co.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016 gmhtoday. com
27