Local First. Sounds simple enough. Should be easy. I can do that. But, I go to the doctor in Airdrie, while I'm there I'll just stop by the Safeway and pick up a few things so I don't have to stop when I get back to Didsbury. Oh, and I should stop at the Home Depot and see what they have for flooring so I can get started on the renovations in the basement. And maybe I should stop at London Drugs for that prescription in my wallet, by then I'll need lunch. And so it spirals ...

Local First. Sounds simple enough. Now we need to practice it. We have an incredible town; you can walk down the street and say "hi" to everyone. You can write a cheque at almost every store. Didsbury is one of the friendliest towns you'll ever be graced enough to call home.

Are we saying don't ever shop out of town? No, but we are saying look at local businesses first. If the quality of product and the quality of service is what you want, it only makes sense to shop at home. Every dollar spent in town will be re-spent seven times before it leaves our community. If you spend your dollars outside of town, they will never come back. This is why the Chamber of Commerce has developed the Local First campaign. If we all shop local first, the spiral will be upward not downward, and we will all benefit. We want and need our neighbouring business to succeed; if they succeed, you succeed. Any and all new businesses should be welcomed with open arms. They will bring employees and customers to shop at your business.

Local First. Sounds simple enough. Should be easy. I CAN DO THAT.

Didsbury - the community that supports local business - first!

Whenever you see this logo, you'll know the business, individual,
service club, or sport organization supports a "Local First" philosophy.

CHAMBER'S PURCHASING POLICY

The Chamber of Commerce itself embraces a "Local First" philosophy. The Didsbury & District Chamber of Commerce Purchasing Policy reads: In the case of purchasing services, materials and/or merchandise, the Chamber will abide by a Local First philosophy. In all cases, the purchasing of services, materials and/or merchandise by the Chamber will be done according to the following list of enterprises in the listed order of priority:

1. Chamber members
2. Didsbury businesses
3. County businesses
4. South-central Alberta businesses (Red Deer & south)
5. Alberta businesses
6. Canadian businesses