Buy Local, and keep your money at home

There are jobs, roads and other things at stake.

As we pointed out in a Sun Herald editorial published in October 2008, it has never been more important that we all focus on keeping dollars as close to home as possible.

The tax dollars generated from shopping and dining in our local communities are what pay for our roads, our schools and all the other local services we rely on. And those local sales create jobs. Thousands of local jobs.

But the national economy and our local post-Katrina challenges have put greater demands on fewer local tax dollars.

There is, however, one simple thing we all can do that will make a huge impact.

We’re all going to be shopping for the holidays anyway, and if we make our purchases right here in our own communities, our few hundred dollars can have a multi-million dollar impact.

Merchants: Here's how you can help yourself

Remind your customers how important it is to shop locally by putting one of these “buy local’ logos in your store window, on displays and in your holiday advertising.

We’ve even localized the campaign with the names of each Coast city.

Many local chambers of commerce have a link on their websites that will take you to these “Buy Local” logos, too.

Encourage your customers with these signs, customized for your town.

Click on the sign(s) you want to open/download a .pdf version for printing.

Bay St. Louis: Horizontal | Vertical

Biloxi: Horizontal | Vertical

D'Ilberville: Horizontal | Vertical

Diamondhead: Horizontal | Vertical

Gautier: Horizontal | Vertical

Gulfport: Horizontal | Vertical

Hancock County: Horizontal | Vertical

Harrison County: Horizontal | Vertical

Jackson County: Horizontal | Vertical

Long Beach: Horizontal | Vertical

Moss Point: Horizontal | Vertical

Ocean Springs: Horizontal | Vertical

Pascagoula: Horizontal | Vertical

Pass Christian: Horizontal | Vertical

Picayune: Horizontal | Vertical

South Mississippi: Horizontal | Vertical

Waveland: Horizontal | Vertical

Wiggins: Horizontal | Vertical