Boulder Weekly Asks You to Pledge to Buy Local

This holiday season, Boulder Weekly will be encouraging Boulder County residents to spend money at locally owned businesses to support our local economy and also to enter to win great prizes. The 2009 Boulder Weekly Holiday Pledge starts in November and runs through December, which is "Buy Local Month." We also will be featuring Boulder Weekly's Buy Local Edition on November 19th, kicking off the holiday season.

Participants can easily enter by using the secure form and making a pledge. After completing their obligation, participants are eligible for prizes that will be given out throughout the holiday season. Boulder Weekly will track how many dollars are spent locally as a result of the pledge campaign and will publish the results and winners on the website and in the weekly paper.

Boulder Weekly's goal is to have the community spend $100,000 at locally owned businesses and to increase awareness of supporting the local economy this holiday season.

"From each dollar spent at a local independent merchant, three or more times as much typically goes back into the local economy compared to a dollar spent at a chain-owned business," said Jeff Milchen, co-founder of Boulder Independent Business Alliance and American Independent Business Alliance.

During last year's holiday season, independent retailers outperformed many competing chains, according to the Institute for Self-Reliance's national survey of 1,142 independent businesses. Large chains, like Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and The Gap's sales all went down, but competing local businesses managed to out-do them in profits.

So get on board with the 2009 Boulder Weekly Holiday Pledge! The contest will be promoted in the Boulder Weekly as well as with partner organizations. Sponsorships and advertising on our local pages are available to local businesses and organizations.