Supporting Local Businesses

["W. Robb Parish" <wrparish@moscow.com>]

Greetings and Happy New Year.

Last week the Spokesman Review had an interesting editorial about supporting
local businesses.  That editorial seems even more relevant to a small
community like Moscow.  The premise was that local businesses support local
activities and with the loss of customers to mail order and internet
commerce they will have reduced capacity to contribute time and money to the
community.

I think this is a valid observation and I know first hand that Moscow and
Latah County businesses are the ones that we most depend on to support our
local needs. These local businesses are very generous with time and money
and I believe this can be directly correlated to the fact that Moscow is one
of the finest small communities in the country.

I don't recall funds or volunteer time flowing back into the Palouse from
Amazon.com or eToys.  Every time one of us goes on-line and spends money, it
not only hurts our local businesses, it also has an adverse impact on our
community.  Money flowing out of our community rarely comes back.

This is not to say that one should not shop by mail order or on the
internet -- we are all sensitive about the cost of goods and services.  But
the next time you shop on-line, by mail, or outside the local area, please
consider the true price of that decision.

Robb Parish
Moscow-Latah County Economic Development Council