The second annual celebration of shopping locally happens Monday.
Tacoma Shift Happens, an initiative by business alliance GoLocal, is an attempt to get people to shift 10 percent of their spending from national chains to a locally owned businesses.
The event is open to the public.
Tacoma Shift Happens 2012 starts at 4 p.m. with a happy hour featuring a cash bar and more than 20 local food vendors, according to the event’s website.
That leads into the featured program, including the Mayoral State of the City address, followed by a showcase of more than 100 local independent businesses.
Earlier in the afternoon are optional “smart labs” on topics meant to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Those are $10 each and begin at 1 p.m. Registration is required.
All events are at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center. Learn more and register at tacomashifthappens.com.
The “10 percent shift” campaigns, which are happening across the country, reference a single case study done in Austin, Texas, in 2002 that showed that of $100 spent at a national bookstore, $13 stayed in the local economy versus $46 for a locally owned bookstore.
But economists generally agree that spent dollars are multiplied, and that the more dollars are spent on locally based companies, the more the local economy is helped.
Kathleen Cooper: 253-597-8546 kathleen.cooper @thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/business Twitter: @KCooperTNT
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