Reaching Deeper Town gift certificates aim to boost local economy

Author: Lea Calderon-Guthe

As businesses nationwide reported declines in holiday sales, the Middlebury community appreciated stability in local sales partly due to a gift certificate program called Middlebury Money. Community members purchased the certificates, which can be used at more than 100 stores in the Middlebury area, as a promise to shop locally, but some participating business owners remain skeptical of the program's usefulness.

Since its introduction in 1997, sales of Middlebury Money have seen moderate success in the community, but as the national economy spirals downward, concern for the local economy has remained strong. According to Gail Freidin, Executive Director of the Better Middlebury Partnership and one of the creators of the Middlebury Money program, the community expressed its concern through purchasing record amounts of the money.

"Last year $20,000 of [Middlebury Money] was sold, and the year before, $22,000," Freidin said. "This year, we sold $28,000 worth. That's a 37 percent increase. It speaks volumes about people's renewed commitment in a down economy to support local businesses."

In 1997 the Middlebury Business Association (MBA) - now the Better Middlebury Partnership - introduced Middlebury Money as a way to encourage local spending. Instead of a true local currency that can be recirculated, Middlebury Money works more like a gift certificate. Local consumers buy an amount of Middlebury Money at the National Bank of Middlebury with an equal amount of U.S. dollars and then redeem the bills at participating local businesses. The businesses then cash in the Middlebury Money for U.S. dollars as if they were cashing a check.

In the weeks before the holidays, the National Bank of Middlebury (NBM) featured a promotional campaign for Middlebury Money on its website and the Addison Independent ran a series of ad campaigns for shopping locally. Middlebury Money has close ties with the Addison Independent, as a former director of advertising was one of the key players in its creation.

When the concept of Middlebury Money was first discussed, Freidin and the other community members involved in its creation did not intend to create a local currency, but they did want to stress the importance of shopping locally. At the time, universal gift certificates like Middlebury Money were available and successful in Rutland and on Church Street in Burlington. Freidin attributes the continued success of Middlebury Money to the fact that the stores that accept it are not required to give a discount to consumers. This encourages stores to participate because there is no monetary loss involved in accepting the bills.

"It's seamless for businesses to accept [Middlebury Money]," Freidin said. "Having a lot of businesses accept it is key to selling a lot of Middlebury Money."

Recent publicity has highlighted local currencies such as Burlington Bread and Berkshares in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. These communities print their own bills for local use as wages and for bartering. Although this has sparked discussion of a local currency in Middlebury, Freidin does not think Middlebury is ready yet.

"People running the businesses need to know that they can buy product or pay rent or employees with a local currency," Freidin said. "We're not quite there yet. It involves going deeper into the local economy and getting to wages and product. For a lot of stores that exist locally, their product doesn't come from Addison County, so they have to pay U.S. dollars for product. Most employees need to get paid in dollars that will be accepted for taxes and rent."