Over 2o years ago, Roy Fields, Group VP for Teledyne said that to me. At the time I did not appreciate the wisdom, but over the years I have come to love this recommendation. The merchants of downtown San Jose, CA apparently have too.
In the November 2012 elections, the voters of San Jose famously voted to dramatically increase the minimum wage in San Jose. This Measure D was fought strongly by the merchants association fearing that the increased wages would increase their costs, thus making them less competitive with surrounding areas. And, let’s face it, downtown San Jose is not really tourist central.
Well, Measure D won and the new minimum wage is going into effect. Since they can’t fix it, the merchants, in co-operation with the AFL-CIO are running an ad campaign featuring the fact that merchants, restaurants, etc in downtown San Jose pay their people better and locals should shop downtown.
A clever usage of Roy Fields’ admonition to me many years ago. How might this idea work for you?
Mitch
