More than ever before, local businesses and small business owners need your support. If you’re a business owner, I’m sure you know this by now; if you’re a consumer, you’re probably wondering what you can do to help your community and stop big chains from taking over even more of the landscape.

For the last 15 years, Thomas Barr has been helping communities answer these questions. Thomas is the executive director of Local First Arizona, an organization here in Phoenix that provides business owners with networking, education, and guidance on how to operate more efficiently.

Today, Thomas joins the podcast to talk about why the odds have always been stacked against small business owners, how the COVID-19 pandemic has made things that much tougher, and what you can do to support your favorite businesses in this precarious time.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why shopping locally as opposed to with a chain store has such a big impact on your community.
• How seemingly unrelated local businesses can innovate and collaborate to lift each other up and create new opportunities.
• Why local businesses permanently lose customers when they underperform or fail to satisfy them.
• How the COVID-19 pandemic and the availability of PPP loans emphasized the fact that small business and big business are constantly at odds with each other in America.
• How Local First is building infrastructure and creating opportunities to help local businesses grow, scale, and deliver customer experiences that can compete with global retailers.

Interview Resources

• Local First Arizona
• Local Learning Lab
• Good Food Finder
• Fuerza Local Business Accelerator
• Changing Hands Bookstore
• Duck and Decanter
• Modified Arts
• Entrepreneurs’ Organization Arizona
• Hensley Beverage Company
• #yesphx

Please welcome Thomas Barr, Executive Director of Local First Arizona (@localfirstaz) to the show! Thomas is an Arizona native, speaker, philanthropist, champion for locally owned businesses and committed to building vibrancy, equity, and prosperity across the state. If you are interested in supporting small businesses during this time (whether you’re in AZ or not), you’ll find this conversation interesting, informative and inspiring. 

In this interview we cover:

• The benefits of shopping local (and common misconceptions about it)
• Different ways you can support small businesses
• Obstacles small businesses face that you may not have thought about before
• Ways that independent operators are pivoting and adapting during this unprecedented time

I would love to hear what you think of this interview — let me know on Instagram @heypreslie. Enjoy! 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Local First Arizona website: localfirstaz.com
• Local First Arizona business search
• U.S. Small Business Administration website

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“If you’re living here you have  responsibility to make this place what you want it to be.” - Thomas Barr

It's one thing to shop local, another thing to be a local business, but what's it like being an organization who's mission is reinventing how it's local economy works? Listen to Local First Arizona's Executive Director, Thomas Barr share what this big idea is and where it's going.

Local First Arizona is a nonprofit organization that celebrates independent, locally owned businesses. We support, promote and advocate for a strong local business community and raise public awareness of the economic and cultural benefits provided by strong local economies. Local businesses contribute to a sustainable economy for Arizona and build vibrant communities we're all proud to call home. 

Ole Miss is known for its college parties, which is why 4 students got the idea to throw a $140,000 bash with thousands of people in April of 2019. The result was unlike any other party to take place in Oxford, Mississippi.

Helping us move from awareness to action this week is Thomas Barr.  Thomas is the Executive Director of Local First Arizona.  Listen to learn about the future of Local First, the three things he’s learned over the past three years as well as the one plea he’d like to make to the world.  You can find out more about Thomas and what he’s working on at LocalFirstAZ.com, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

For templates of letters/emails and or talking points referenced in the show, or simply to say “hi” click here.