Shoppers who buy from stores rather than over the Internet are, in effect, putting money into their own pockets--that's the message the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) hopes to get out through a new campaign to encourage consumers to patronize brick-and-mortar retailers. It's a message that can only help to reinforce local efforts to encourage consumers to "Think Monroe County First!" and spend dollars locally.The campaign, titled “Give Your Community a Lift … Shop Locally for Your Gifts!” aims to remind shoppers that local retailers provide local jobs and support community-based civic and charitable organizations. “Many consumers shop online and avoid paying sales tax, and while this may appear to consumers as a way of saving a few dollars, in the end it may cost them more if local tax revenue is eroded and municipalities are forced to cut back on services,” says Michael Kercheval, ICSC’s President & CEO.
ICSC is encouraging malls to display posters and window and door clings, available from ICSC, to support this campaign. A one-minute public service announcement promoting the campaign will air this month on CNBC, CNN, Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, The Weather Channel, Bloomberg and National First Business, as well as during ABC’s GMA Weekend, NBC’s Today Show Weekend and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“Sales tax revenue is important to local communities, because it’s our life’s blood,” states Douglas H. Palmer, mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, in the television spot. “We need those kinds of moneys to provide the services, whether it’s police, fire, public works and all the other services that cities have to provide.”
Founded in 1957, ICSC is the global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its 75,000 members in the U.S., Canada and more than 80 other countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, lenders, retailers and other professionals as well as academics and public officials.
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