The Newtown Way: Shop Owners Say Buying Local Matters

In the past weeks, stickers have sprung up on businesses across Newtown touting "the Newtown Way": the idea of shopping as local as possible For many Newtown business owners who display these stickers -- business owners like Patrick Kearney -- the practice just makes sense.

"People assume just because its local its more expensive, and it isn't," he says. Kearney runs Queen Street Gifts & Treats with Mary Wilson.

"Mary and I both live local, and this is my livelihood. As a person who pays taxes and participates in the community, I don't want to have to go to New York City to do my shopping. I love to live and shop local. You gotta practice what you preach."

That's why Newtown's Economic Development Commission has launched a campaign to celebrate -- and encourage -- shopping close to home. Economic Development coordinator Betsy Paynter says the advantages are clear: about $68 of every $100 spent in town stays in town.

"If you go to Butcher's Best and buy your sandwich from [owner Steve Ford], he also buys services from a local lawyer or accountant, so that money circulates business-to-business," she says.

The campaign launched at Newtown's Earth Day party in April; a logical choice, says Paynter, who says there are "Earth Day elements" to buying local -- for example, many local restaurants buy their produce from Sandy Hook-based Shortt's Farm & Garden Center, says Paynter, including recent arrival Foundry Kitchen & Tavern in Sandy Hook.

Kearney says he gets the feeling people want to shop in Newtown rather than travel to Danbury or further for goods, food and gifts -- but some don't know how many great businesses Newtown has to offer.

"It's nice new people are constantly finding us out," he says. On Wednesday, he said, he got at least four new customers who had never been to the shop before. "We really rely both on our locals and the people who haven't been here: spread the word!"

For more information about "The Newtown Way: Buy Local First," visit the Economic Development Commission's website at www.newtown.org. The site is also compiling a directory of local businesses, including home and web-based businesses, which Paynter says account for more than half of all businesses in Newtown.