Regionalization is a new buzzword in the world of economic development. The idea is that if the new factory doesn't locate in your town, it is still a good thing that it locates in the nearby region so that some of your citizens might commute to work there. The recent announcement by Honda to build a major automotive manufacturing plant in Greensburg is an example.

As with any new industry announcement, a new employer creates some ripple effect of folks leaving one job to take another, and then the job they left being filled by someone. This is called frictional unemployment. It is not long-term unemployment caused by a downsizing or a plant closure. It is simply the temporary friction caused by one person getting a better job, and someone else waiting in line to fill the one vacated.

While regionalization seems to work in industry, it fundamentally does not work in retail. I say fundamentally because if one is the buyer, then having a large mall or name brand store an hour away may be a good thing occasionally. But if one is the owner of the local clothing store, then the large store at the mall creates a competition that is tough to deal with.

The large mall store may have 50 left-handed widgets in 10 colors in stock. The local store may only have six, and in only three colors. The difference is purchasing power. The mall store will almost always be located in or near a large metropolitan area where there are many more times the number of potential buyers to draw from as in the smaller town. And, because the mall store bought 50 of the widgets, the manufacturer of them sold them a little cheaper than they did to the local store. The mall store may pass that savings on to the buyer, or it may decide that if the buyers would pay say $10 at the local store, then they'll still pay $10 but get to choose from the 10 colors and the mall store will just make more money per sale.

Now this is a huge oversimplification of the retail market and macroeconomics. There are many other issues to be taken into consideration that affect where we buy our goods. The point I want to make is that our local retail stores are more than ever swimming upstream in the market place . . . and there are some huge benefits to supporting them.

While it is not always true, more times than not the mall store is set up for things to be sold and go out the door . . . never to return. Service is something they hope they never have to deal with. With the local store, the idea of service has become one of the main things it has to offer. And service for 99 percent of the items purchased over the Internet is just not going to be easy at all, if it even happens.

Don't get me wrong. We have some very fine Chamber members that have a local retail store but "home office" is in another state. The message that I am trying to convey is that particularly this time of the year, when so many local merchants depend on a good holiday business cycle to help them make their yearly sales goals, we ought to at least try shopping locally first. It is the local merchant who employs our next-door neighbor and pays the local property taxes that operate our schools and libraries. The local merchant uses fellow local businesses who employ our other neighbors. It is the local merchant who will give the best service. The local merchant is happy to order one of those other seven colors and wait around after he closes so you can pick it up.

Our loyalty to at least try shopping locally first in support of our local retailers is always attacked this time of the year with flyers and catalogs in the mail, big city radio and TV ads, and the image of huge inventory and big savings that the regional mall creates. But day in and day out, six days a week, 52 weeks a year, it is the local merchant who can be depended on to provide the goods and services that will keep us going. Is it OK to enjoy the mall? Certainly, but it should be the exception, not the rule.

This year, I really encourage you to try shopping locally first. If you don't, next year that local merchant may be gone and you'll have to drive to the mall and pay whatever they ask for those widgets. Regionalization may be a good thing in manufacturing. In retail, local has been, and will continue to be, better.