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Albemarle County, Charlottesville team up for Buy Local holiday campaign

Crystal Graham

buy local The Albemarle County and Charlottesville Buy Local campaign highlights small businesses within Charlottesville and Albemarle County and encourages the community to spend locally when shopping this holiday season.

The local offices of economic development designed the campaign – a multi-channel, multimedia promotional and educational effort – designed to reinforce the importance of supporting area small businesses and the local economy.

The campaign is in full swing.

“Buying locally is so important to the strength and vibrancy of our economy,” said Roger Johnson, director of the Albemarle County Office of Economic Development. “We are very fortunate to have such a wide variety of unique and diverse small businesses in our area, and dollars spent at a locally-owned shop or restaurant return over three times as much money to our community as shopping at a chain store.”

The goal of the campaign is to highlight the unique characteristics of local businesses.

“We encourage local retailers to reach out to the campaign and share what their businesses have to offer shoppers this holiday season,” said Chris Engel, director of Economic Development for the City of Charlottesville.

Small businesses employ around 77 million Americans and accounts for 65 percent of all net new jobs in the past 20 years. Choosing to buy locally creates jobs for our neighbors, strengthens the local economy, and in turn helps the community, according to a news release.

For more information, visit www.showlocallove.org

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.