Committee for Echuca-Moama chief executive officer Deanne Armstrong: When asked to respond to why do we need to “shop local” my first thought was why wouldn’t we? Locally we are lucky to have many family-owned businesses that provide a great range of fresh and creative products. When buying these products it not only supports their business to continue and hopefully grow, it provides local jobs for you and our kids when they are old enough to work. These jobs allow our kids to learn important life skills, such as communication, finance, specific skills for the role, teamwork, and leadership. All valuable skills to learn for future jobs. Locally these businesses are the ones we call on to provide sponsorship and donations for our raffles, events, and community causes. Yes, it does help with the promotion of their brand and also supports a great cause, but the bottom line is they don’t have to. They do this because they hope that in turn, you will remember what they did when you asked for help, and return the favour by support them. But do we? We get caught up in our busy lives and turn to what is simple, online or a one-stop shop like our local larger supermarkets. With Easter coming up, I made the effort to call into the local Echuca Chocolate Company and bought all my Easter eggs, no Cadbury’s this year. They have a huge range of chocolates and are also a retail outlet for another great local product, St Anne’s Winery. What a great business idea with two local businesses working together to sell their products. So I am all set for Easter and have supported two local businesses, yep I may have got a bottle of wine also. So how will you support a local business this Easter and beyond? It might be buying that loaf of bread, going to the local butcher, grabbing a present from one of our wonderful local stores, going to the local farmers market or even buying some chocolate and wine at Echuca Chocolate Company. But just know, every purchase does make a difference.
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Echuca Moama Tourism chief executive officer Kathryn Mackenzie: I love shopping local — we know our shopkeepers — they are part of our community — they look after us! They know us by name and know what we like. If we all shop local a broader range of goods can be stocked and we’re all the winners here — a broader range of goods can be stocked and we have more choice! We love choice! Finally it keeps our money local — it keeps our businesses open and our streetscapes vibrant. It’s all about liveability! Visitors love shopping in our small towns — they return to find the place they love shopping at and take away a memorable gift, which reminds them of the great time they’ve had in Echuca Moama. I love shopping in Echuca-Moama and people stopping me in the street and asking where I purchased the garment or shoes. I love saying Echuca-Moama.
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Rich River Golf Club’s Paul Lavars: We have been making an effort to use local businesses everywhere we can. It may not always be cheaper than online or overseas, but when money is kept locally it supports employment and of course the business. For Echuca-Moama to stay strong and for our kids to have jobs we need to shop local at every opportunity. Also the follow-up service is important and when you buy locally there is more accountability. Shopping locally includes our surrounding towns but when you buy online or overseas the money leaves the pot and there’s less to go round. We just purchased function chairs through S & J Furniture, we purchase sand and soil locally, irrigation supplies and more for the golf course. Food from Cadell’s, Pear Tree and more. Supplies from Maxwell’s Hospitality and the list goes on and on. Raffle prizes and vouchers from many local businesses are popular with locals as prizes and encourages people to shop at new businesses. There are many ways to support and shop local so keep the money here and create jobs for the future.
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Campaspe Shire Councillor Daniel Mackrell: We as a family and business shop local as best as we can. Our mobile coffee business is built on the shop-local premise. Our cafe is built around our locals and they have supported us through thick and thin over 10 years. Our bread, our milk and our roasted coffee all local.So when I say local made either here in Echuca-Moama or a stone’s throw away.The Echuca Farmers Market gives the local community a focus which we are proud to be a part of.We live local and support local, though understand that local can be bigger than just us. Local can mean the next town or village, through out Victoria or NSW, it can also mean Australia.But for us we look in our backyard and help one another then widen the circle when needed.
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Murray River Council Councillor Tom Weyrich: I believe it is critical to the survival of small towns in rural and regional Australia that the communities support small businesses. Without small businesses small towns will die and there are plenty of examples of that actually happening. We all know that small businesses cannot compete with the national chains due to the lack of turnover, which is a sad reality. Costs associated with running a small business are enormous — and increasing — making it difficult to survive. There are many government bodies who control small business, each of them demanding payment for licences to operate. When businesses in small country towns fail, the flow-on affect is unimaginable and generally leads to closure of government services or the reduction in government services which we all rely on.
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