A Lesson from California 



Cooperation Means Survival 



]im Bergantz 



Tie "big box" retailers were late in coming to our 

 tranquil little Gold Rush town. The first traffic light 

 in our county was finally installed just last year. 

 But with the advent of "progress", those of us in small 

 business were quick to feel the impact of the broad 

 spectrum of products that were becoming available to 

 our customers just beyond the boundaries of Calaveras 

 County. We realized, about two years ago, that we must 

 find a way to foster the qualities that are valuable about 

 small business and do it in a concerted effort with our 

 neighbors. 



The lumber store across the street traditionally held a 

 mid-spring sale that was very well attended by shoppers 

 in our community. It would be wise, we thought, to have 

 our own sale the same day in order to tap into their 

 customer base. We approached them about participating 

 in the mass mailing that they did to market the event. 

 Our neighbor, an electronics store owner, joined the ef- 

 fort. We were surprised at how little it cost to promote 

 our joint event, compared to the cost of advertising in- 

 dependently. We were also pleased to discover how 

 great it was to work with our neighbors, because they 

 had good ideas that were offered from a slightly differ- 

 ent perspective. 



The event that took place was the most well-attended 

 and profitable sale we had ever had. In addition to of- 

 fering great savings, the three stores created a party-like 

 shopping atmosphere. Our nursery hired a skilled face 

 painter to decorate children (and adults!) We invited 

 the butcher from the neighboring food market to cook 

 his famous Casper dogs right in the center of the nurs- 

 ery under our new shade structure, which was being 

 christened that day. When we invited our vendors to 

 participate in a parking lot forum for our customers, they 

 were extremely supportive. In another show of coopera- 

 tion, competitors sat side-by-side and enjoyed their 

 lunch while giving our customers invaluable, in-depth in- 

 formation about everything from sprinkler systems to 

 soil. We were excited. Our idea worked! 



From that initial effort, our cooperative advertising 

 group has grown to its current size of 23 members. We 

 encourage all businesses to join us, for the inclusion of 

 any new member enhances our effort Consequently, a 

 feeling of mutual obligation has developed between the 

 business owners of our community, even between busi- 

 nesses in direct competition with one another. This un- 

 anticipated offshoot may, in fact, be the most important 

 thing to come from the efforts of the group. 



Shortly after our initial cooperative promotion, we be- 

 gan encouraging others to join us with a $100.00 per 

 month contribution and a six-month commitment. This 

 money is pooled in an account at our local bank (also a 

 member! and is expended according to vote by the 

 group at large. We adopted the acronym N.A.M.E., for 

 "North Angels Merchants Extraordinaire", and hired a 

 group of local bluegrass musicians to create a jingle to 

 incorporate into our radio advertising This jingle has 

 become our signature and is used in cable TV ads as 

 well. 



Other money from our account is utilized for newspa- 

 per advertising. This is fairly evenly divided between 

 five local newspapers and uses about 30% of the budget. 



Members of the group participate at varying levels. 

 Some never miss our bi-weekly meetings; some never 

 attend, but mail their contribution without fail. I produce 

 a weekly newsletter that is faxed to each member so 

 that everyone is kept informed of progress and of who is 

 paid up and who is not! 



We are now enjoying being "little guys" with a big 

 voice. Our advertising co-op is seen as a viable force in 

 our community for the cause of economic development. 

 We are committed to our cause as well as to each other 

 for the decline of any one business diminishes all of us. 



The police department has visited us to discuss crime 

 prevention and, during the last election campaign, can- 

 didates attended our always open meetings in order to 

 understand the concerns of local business. The City of 

 Angels Camp has seen fit to join our group with a S'OO. 

 monthly contribution in a show of faith for what we are 

 doing. 



NAME, was the organizing force last year in what 

 looks to become an annual event in Angels Camp. We 

 "Painted the Town Red!" With the generous support of 

 Curtis [ones and the Lake Valley Seed Company, we dis- 

 tributed (door-to-door!) over 5000 packets of red flower 

 seeds for residents to plant in preparation for the event. 

 The impact was astounding as, all over town, red flowers 

 bloomed to launch the "Paint the Town Red" celebra- 

 tion. The resulting boost of red flower sales in our nurs- 

 ery was a wonderful plus! The NAME, multi-store sales 

 event was joined by our museum, which held a living 

 history event complete with miner's food, gold paning 

 and Mark Twain characters in costume At the same 

 time, the hospital held a children's health fair. Our nurs- 

 ery was the site of a car show for red vehicles which had 

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18 



The Plantsman 



