Stephanie Pierotti arrived in Vegas just in time to see the economy tank and watch the finger-pointing begin: Who’s to blame? Who’s gonna fix this?
A teacher at The Art Institute of Las Vegas, Pierotti believes we’re all responsible. “If we can support each other by shopping local and keep that money in the local economy, we’re taking onus upon ourselves to actually make things better,” she says. To further the cause, she founded ShopLOV (Locally Owned Vegas), a new “shop local” program in town.
First and foremost, ShopLOV (shop-lov.com) preaches consumer awareness. According to the website, for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $73 stays in the community, versus $43 that remains when the same amount is spent at a non-locally owned company. The site also illustrates how these funds that have remained are further dispersed within the community, when employees spend money and when tax funds are distributed.
Secondly, the program assists locally owned businesses with marketing and exposure, so ShopLOV maintains a directory of locally owned businesses (also available online), organizes shopping events and publishes a quarterly field guide.
ShopLOV also promotes localism by selling products designed by local artists — tote bags and T-shirts, currently — which come with ShopLOV Connect cards. Those cards earn users special discounts at locally owned businesses — just one more reason to shop local