Moving Off Line to Mainstreet

December 14, 2009

Dear BerkShares Businesses,

NBC Chicago affiliate reports on a town working to bring Holiday shopping
off-line and back to Main Street (see below). BerkShares are credited as a
community tool to help accomplish this objective.

Please remember our many creative Berkshire business as you make choices for
gifts, services, entertainment, and donations this season. The BerkShares
Accepted sign identifies an independent, locally owned business that proudly
accepts our independent local currency.

For your convenience, a complete directory of BerkShares businesses is at
the www.berkshares.org. Click on “Where to Spend BerkShares.”

Best wishes,
BerkShares Team
P O BOX 125
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413 528 1737
www.berkshares.org
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http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/lemont-illinois-local-economy-mone
y-spending-business-rogers-79242817.html

Illinois Town Battles Online Shopping With Offline Incentives

$50 per month could generate over $42 billion in revenue for local
economies, officials say
By BJ LUTZ and PHIL ROGERS
Updated 3:42 PM CST, Mon, Dec 14, 2009

If you like a locally-owned business if your community, patronize it. That's
the message the South West suburb of Lemont is actively promoting in an
effort to keep local money local.

Officials have asked the village's 17,000 residents to pick three local
businesses they would miss if they were gone and to spend at least $50 per
month there to help them to survive.

"Most people are spending $50 somewhere, and this is just to encourage them
to spend it with their local independent businesses," said Village Planner
Charity Jones.

The village provides something of a snapshot of small town America.
Businesses have felt the bite not only of the recession and the new Internet
economy, but also of nearby shopping malls which have siphoned away millions
of local dollars.

Economics 101 in Suburban Chicago
"When you use money online, it really doesn't go back into the community,"
one resident said. And those departing dollars benefit no one, local
merchants say.

For every $100 spent in Lemont, $68 is re-generated into the community,
according to Lemont Chamber of Commerce President Ryan Sullivan.
Supporters of the 3/50 Project say if half of the U.S. population spent $50
each month with local merchants, their purchases would generate over $42
billion in revenue.

"As an employer here in Lemont, the consumers spend money with me (and) I
can employ local residents," explained restaurateur Paul Chiladikis.
Lemont is only the latest in localized efforts to keep local money local.
The town of Great Barrington, Mass., is one of several communities around
the county that prints its own currency. The Berkshares, as they're called,
give local residents a five percent discount when they shop at local
merchants. Millions of them have changed hands.

During the Great Depression dozens of complementary currencies flourished as
thousands of banks failed. Today, it's estimated there are at least 2,500
complementary currency systems around the world, Bernard Lietaer, a
co-founder of the Euro and a local currency proponent, told CNN.
First Published: Dec 14, 2009 2:16 PM CST