Local stake grows
It takes effort, co-operation and encouragement for local businesses to flourish. Many local business owners sit on boards and are active members of their local chamber of commerce, business revitalization zone, clubs, and other organizations. In so doing, they have a voice that can affect local business governance, and the quality of life in their city and community.
Local businesses start with a handicap right out of the gate, in terms of how business infrastructure is set up, says Bruce Martin, general manager of Community Natural Foods.
In most cities, that handicap starts with developers catering to national chains. Because of this, “it’s important for local businesses to support each other, to try to offset that fundamental infrastructure handicap,” Martin adds.
“Local businesses are so important to the community, because their wages, sales and profits stay in the city and get recycled in terms of driving the city economy. It’s really much more advantageous for the economy to be utilizing local businesses, because the money stays in the community, versus the national chains, where it goes back to head office and the profits and cash flow are used to fund expansion elsewhere.”
One of Martin’s roles in the community is as a participant on the Calgary Food Council, which is seeking to understand how Calgary can become sustainable in terms of its food needs, since the city is very dependent on food sources that come from a long distance away — California, Mexico, and even B.C.
“There are any number of occasions as food retailers when mountain passes are closed and our shelves could be empty, depending on how the availability of food works,” Martin says. “It makes it very difficult for local farmers to plug into.
“For local businesses to acquire locally produced food, we are trying to find co-operative ways we can start to help encourage the development of that network, that would support joining local farmers with local retailers.”
It is a case, at a local level, of working co-operatively to build those efficiencies to compete with the larger firms, he says.
Martin also works to affect policies at the national level.
“Our business participated in forming the legislation around organics and the certification of organics at a national level,” he adds.
Currently, he sits on the board of the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA), Canada’s largest trade association dedicated to natural health and organic products, which is predominantly made up of small independent businesses. One of Martin’s major responsibilities as a CHFA board member, is sitting on a working group that’s developing a policy around genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Small independent businesses can make a substantial difference to society, says Martin, who spoke on a panel in Toronto earlier this fall, discussing how small businesses can follow a practice of sustainability. “They really can make a difference in their community in major and minor ways.”
As just one example, Commu- nity Natural Foods supports 89 not-for-profit organizations in Calgary — giving approximately $400,000 a year in monetary and in-kind product donations.
Martin, who also sits on the board of REAP Business Association (Respect for the Earth and All People), sees the impact the association’s members have, in terms of employment and contributions to the community. “It adds up and it’s substantial.”