A large number of local businesses in Austin have teamed up to create a "Go Local" card, which offers discounts at affiliated businesses for people that have them. Each participating business sells the cards and offers discounts attached to it. After pondering the substantial genius of this, I began thinking that San Marcos, for its size, seems to have the same level of localness to its business community that you see on a larger scale in Austin as a whole (many San Marcos establishments have recently opened 2nd or 3rd locations within the city, a very good signifier of this).

So perhaps we could create something like this in San Marcos? It would just be another way to encourage residents (including Texas State students) to consider local shops, restaurants, etc. over big chains (which already have a number of promotional advantages that come with huge national/international advertising budgets). Simply a laminated card, available for a small fee, which would enable those who have it to get a discount (or some kind of perk) at any business that participates (for example, 10% off at a coffee shop, a discount on total purchase at a retail store etc...), which allows the collective promotion of local businesses who already are outmatched when it comes to the ability to promote themselves. The cards could even be given out to incoming Texas State students, which would give them an immediate knowledge of the options the many locals they have within the San Marcos community...in many cases within a short walk or bike ride from their dorm.

The following is a link to the Austin "Go Local" example, which itself has only been around for a short while but has gained the participation of a diverse array of local businesses in the city:

http://blog.golocalaustin.com/?page_id=3

I'm mainly putting this out to the community as something to ponder. I'm not a business owner myself (just a Graduate Student who loves this town and sees it, somewhat accidentally, as a model for how more growing cities in the U.S. should be), but I created this page because I strongly believe that a vibrant local business scene is crucial to the continued survival of the pronounced sense of place that makes San Marcos such a great town (especially in the face of the rapid and inevitable suburbanization of much of Hays County). I first realized this could be a plausible idea for San Marcos when I ordered a pizza from D'Blazio's and saw coupons for a few other local businesses stapled to the box (I used one of them today, actually). Essentially, this is a small-scale basic version of the greater idea that is already being exercised. And, it has me thinking that the cooperative spirit that this kind of endeavor would require is already in place and just needs a catalyst. And, as mentioned earlier, could be the best tool yet to help make new college students (on and off campus, even the high number of commuters that drive in from Austin but still need to eat and study somewhere) feel integrated into the community and insure that more of the capital they spend here stays in San Marcos. Because, as it's well documented, locally based business return more money into the local economy than chain-based businesses do (3 times as much per dollar, according to the Austin Independent Business Alliance). I'm personally not sure how to go about implementing this, but I wanted to put the idea out there because there are a lot of bright intuitive minds in this town who, I'm pretty sure, could come up with something that would work great. And, of course, the Austin "Go Local" model provides a nice blueprint.

Have a good week in this great town!

- Jordan Stewart

jordan405@gmail.com