Providence’s Economic Development office assessing impact of recent holiday sales’ season & city’s Buy Local campaign

PROVIDENCE, RI – James S. Bennett, Director of the City’s Economic Development Office, is asking area merchants to respond to a quick survey today about how well they fared during the recent holiday sales season and the benefits of Providence’s Buy Providence / Buy Art campaign.

“Now that the holidays are behind us, merchants are looking at how they closed the books on 2012 and where they are headed in 2013,” said Director Bennett.  “I’m reaching out to our city’s retailers, business owners and neighborhood merchants associations asking them to give us their quick impressions of the end-of-year sales’ season.

We are also trying to quantify the economic impact of our Buy Local initiative, in driving local sales. We have seen many national reports that promoting local sales is very effective; our goal is to identify those efforts  that work best, so we can help small businesses grow, create jobs and generate income,” he said.

Bennett said economic development is a top priority of his and Mayor Taveras, and the Director’s work over the last 15 months has been focused on supporting existing small business while attracting new ones. He urged Providence businesses to take a moment to respond to the brief survey, and email their responses to Agooding@providenceri.com.  A copy of the survey follows and is also available in an abbreviated form (sales impact, only) on-line at www.providenceri.com/economic-development.

The survey was emailed to 122 businesses, local business associations and merchants associations asking:

Did sales increase for you this holiday season?  (Please choose one)

• Yes, substantially
• Yes, slightly
• Stayed the same
• No, slightly fewer
• No, significantly less

Did the Buy Providence/ Buy Art (buy local) campaign help to increase your sales?

• Yes,
• No
• Don’t know

Lastly, what one thing (or 2) could we do to better serve the business community?

For more information on the Buy Providence / Buy Art initiative and the City’s Economic Development program, visit www.providenceri.com/economic-development or call 401.680.8400.

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