Many of us have long been fans of the SHIFT movement championed by our friends at Local First Arizona. Unfortunately, not everyone knows that buying locally helps keep more money in our communities.
The recent “shift the way you shop” announcement by Local First Arizona and METRO Light Rail is designed to help people find locally owned restaurants and shops within 1/2 mile of our light rail line. The cities of Phoenix and Tempe will each be celebrating the launch of the Shift campaign with celebrations at different light rail stations and locally owned businesses. On Tuesday October 18th, Tom Simplot will be joined by Kimber Lanning to check out some of their favorite Phoenix destinations along the line. Many of the Downtown Phoenix Community are expected to attend. Guests will learn about urban living, sensible planning and some great infill projects along the line.
In Tempe, Kimber will be joined Wednesday October 12th ( today!) at 5pm by Councilmember Ellis along with myself and community activists Ellen Streiff, Gill Shuga, Greg Taylor, Merlin Ward, Mayoral candidate Michael Monti and many others. We will meet at the Dorsey and Apache light rail station and travel to the Tempe Transportation Center where we will be led on a tour of some awesome local places. Don’t miss hearing about local landmarks and discussing Tempe’s history with this dynamic group.
Please Join Us
More about SHIFT:
Local First has partnered with METRO to create a light rail wrap and a full marketing campaign to run through the holidays that will include a mobile app which riders can use to find any locally-owned retail store, restaurant or entertainment venue within ½ mile of each light rail stop. The mobile app is free and is available at http://m.shiftarizona.com/ on Wednesday, October 12th.
“For every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $73 remains in the local economy. -For every $100 spent at a non-locally owned business, $43 remains in the local economy.” Local First Arizona
We all know our communities are valuable. Many people that ride the light rail do so for recreational purposes, but there is also a very large portion of riders that are ASU students, employees of business along the line, etc. Without a doubt, there is a demand for finding fun things to do along the line. I’m looking forward to using this new light rail web application. I’m sure it will be a hit. Remember Arizona… “Your Life Is On The Line!™”
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