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Mayor wants residents to shop Palo Alto

by Muoi Tran

Can an initiative with no funding help Palo Alto businesses make money? "Shop Palo Alto" -- a proposed citywide campaign that encourages residents to shop locally -- intends to do just that.

The brainchild of Palo Alto Mayor Dena Mossar, Shop Palo Alto is still in the early stages of planning, and has had two initial meetings, Mossar said.

"Shop Palo Alto will remind residents of their purchasing power," Mossar said. "There's no money to fund it, but we're using good community-based organizing."

The plan includes posting banners, as well as distributing posters, buttons and stickers, at key places and events throughout Palo Alto.

"This is something important for Palo Alto," Mossar said. "Sixteen percent of the city revenue (for budget year 2003-2004) comes from sales tax."

Mossar said that she came up with the idea for Shop Palo Alto after reading about another city that tried to keep its sales-tax dollars by painting wide pink lines around the city borders.

"In Palo Alto, we couldn't agree on the width or the color of the lines," Mossar joked, but she definitely was interested in using creative ways to help improve revenue for local businesses.

The two main goals of the program are to support city services, such as the police and fire departments, and to support the local merchants, according to Susan Arpan, Palo Alto's manager of economic development and redevelopment. Arpan has been involved with putting the initiative together since the beginning, working with the Chamber of Commerce, business owners and heads of nonprofit organizations.

So far, the initial meetings have attracted business owners from around Palo Alto. The first meeting in late March drew about 15 representatives. By the second meeting in late April, that number grew to more than 25, Arpan said.

"This shows how progressive businesses here are," Arpan said. "When the going gets tough, businesses usually stop advertising -- but here they're getting more aggressive."

Her hope is that the committee will remain small and manageable, but include business owners from all of the city's shopping areas.

Spending locally will help Palo Alto more than people realize, Arpan explained. For example, one dollar spent could have the value of five or six dollars. If a person makes a purchase at a grocery store, it triggers other spending, such as delivery trucks needing to buy gasoline, Arpan said.

Georgie Gleim, president of Gleim Jewelers, said that Shop Palo Alto makes a lot of sense to her, but that it won't solve everything.

"Shop Palo Alto itself isn't going to bring change," she said. "All I'm expecting is to make people think twice before driving some place else or ordering from a catalog."

Since Gleim Jewelers first opened in Palo Alto on University Avenue in 1931, the business has gone through several up and down cycles, Gleim said. But this particular slowdown has been more of a challenge. "With the dotcom bust and September 11, business has come to a screeching halt, but expenses have not been reduced," Gleim said.

Robyn Urvinitka, marketing director of Stanford Shopping Center, agrees. "In reality, it will take an economic recovery to truly get things back on track," she said. "But in the meantime, we can't just sit here and twiddle our thumbs and wait for things to get better."

Shop Palo Alto "is an excellent strategy to let our community know that you don't necessarily have to spend more -- just spend it in Palo Alto," Urvinitka added.

Some aren't as enthusiastic about the initiative, however. "I don't think it matters -- I don't even believe in 'Buy American,' " said Jimmy Windolf, a salesman at the Futon Shop located on El Camino Real. "Everyone should just buy what they want to buy. ... Sure, it makes more money for the community, but it means less for other communities."

In fact, businesses in Palo Alto seem to be doing better than in surrounding cities, said Ian Kaminsky, assistant manager at Barbeques Galore, also located on El Camino Real. "Seems like business is booming here in Palo Alto," said Kaminsky, who transferred from the Barbeques Galore in Cupertino two weeks ago.

Some Palo Alto residents, such as Kim Young, think that Shop Palo Alto is a great idea, but contended that people need a variety of places to shop at. Interviewed at The Milk Pail Market in Mountain View, Young said, "I go to Whole Foods, but it's a lot cheaper to come here. It has the best produce and the best price -- and it's 10 minutes from my house so I didn't feel like I went that far."

Another Palo Alto resident, Nancy Kim, said that she often shops at The Milk Pail Market because of the quality and price of the produce, and then she goes across the street to the Safeway (also located in Mountain View). Because she has a toddler, Kim also confessed that she does much of her shopping online.

For Susan Hemmenway, both a resident of Palo Alto and owner of Graphic Lab, a design agency formerly based on University Avenue, Shop Palo Alto is about helping one another. Hemmenway already has contributed her time by designing four logos for Shop Palo Alto. The committee will make the final decision on the one that will represent the initiative.

"The merchants have risked setting up business in a high-rent district, and as long as they offer good service and products, I'd like them to stay," Hemmenway said.

A firm launch date for the Shop Palo Alto campaign has not been established, but the committee hopes to roll it out in time for the back-to-school shopping push in the fall.

To sign up for information about Shop Palo Alto, visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/resources/spa/index.html.