Thinking Locally First

She’s a ‘social worker’ cleverly disguised as a record store owner. At least, it’s how Kimber Lanning relates her degree to owning her local businesses, while trying to strengthen others.  You could say she’s preserving a quality of life and an identity for Arizona.
At twelve-years-old, Kimber Lanning’s entrepreneurial craft began well before she even knew it.  Her childhood moments of selling Santa Clara pottery and abstract paintings to strangers inside her mother’s art gallery is what began her story.
Because Kimber was young, gallery customers’ questioned her knowledge of art.  It’s exactly why her mother sent them right back to her for help.  “She was great at getting people to trust my knowledge,” she remarks.
Her first job working in Zia Records inspired her to start a record store of her very own called Stinkweeds.  Now in its 25th year, the store offers a wide variety of music, including many local artists. “I don’t look at this as just selling music. This store helps connect people to this place,” she states.
After opening Modified Arts, a local gallery in Phoenix, Kimber began realizing the power of connectedness. Some of the brightest people she worked with were leaving Arizona to find a place they’d call home.  “If you ask people why they love a place, they’ll tell you about a locally owned business. They’ll say, those restaurants, those neighborhoods that walk able area, these people know my name.”
The picture is much bigger.  “When you have low civic pride, which I would argue that Phoenix has had, that impacts voter turnout, volunteerism, charitable contributions, butts in seats at a Diamondbacks game. When people aren’t proud of where they live that’s how educational systems fall apart,” she observes.  It’s a culture she works to shift.
Her desire for a more level playing field for businesses is the reason she began Local First Arizona, a nonprofit that strengthens communities and local economies. “Our money should go to parks, libraries, fire departments,” she suggests. “For every two jobs a big national chain like a restaurant or retail store brings to Arizona, three local jobs will be lost.”
Recently Kimber spoke to several graphic design firms telling them that the money they’re spending with corporate companies that will never hire them, –– and whose distinct role is to put out of business all the companies that might actually hire them––is effectively eliminating their own client base.
“When you choose to support a local company, that company in turn is going to hire a local graphic designer, web developer, attorney and accountant and when you support a national one most of that money immediately leaves Arizona,” Kimber explains.
Her nonprofit is encouraging everyone to participate in a campaign called The 10% Shift. The campaign grew out of a study in Grand Rapids Michigan that measured what would happen if everyone in a community the size of Tucson shifted 10% spending from a national to a local company.  The findings show it would create 130 million new dollars and 1,600 brand new jobs. It became a concept Local First Arizona adopted.
Kimber points out that it’s not about just buying 10% local.  It’s about shifting 10% more. The impact is even greater when local companies pay it forward.  By buying eggs from Hickman’s Family Farms you’re supporting an inmate work program that helps integrate inmates back into society by providing them jobs.
It’s easy for Kimber.  In fact, she hasn’t eaten in a national chain restaurant in ten years. And, she isn’t complaining. “It means I’m going to Harkins Theaters because they are locally owned.  It means when I’m standing at the grocery store that’s not local but I’m going to choose Shamrock Dairy products,” Kimber says.   The culture of Arizona depends on it.
She’s seeing the choice to keep Arizona’s culture, “We’ve had 22 new independent restaurants open up in the central city area in the last five years. That’s very high. Arizonans are making a statement. “People are voting and saying ‘we want cool hip businesses’ and that’s why there’s more growing,” she adds.
The local movement is growing. It’s a conversation on a lot of minds.  “People are thinking about it outside of me, my staff, and my board.  People I don’t even know.  I think that’s an indicator that it’s actually on fire and it’s moving,” she concludes.
It’s a powerful movement with a much bigger purpose.  People are saving the heart of Arizona’s beating culture.  After all it’s those small gems that make it a special place to call home.
OPEN THE FRONT DOOR TO Local First Arizona