[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro announces new Business Initiative meant to spur local spending

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro announces new 
Business Initiative meant to spur local spending
Also, about 20 businesses to open in the fall at The Mall on Judge Perez 
 
In addition to the news that the Chalmette WalMart should be operational by
March, 2010, St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro Jr. announced at
a Monday press conference that The Mall, located at 8700 W. Judge Perez
Drive in Chalmette, will be home to about 20 businesses by this fall and
negotiations are underway to reopen a movie theatre with stadium-style seats
on site.
 
The Mall, being developed by Joe Licciardi and Ray Peacock, will include the
following merchants: Big Lots, Save-A-Lot, Aaron Rents, Prestige Fitness,
IHOP, Hibbett Sports, Avalon Hair Salon and Spa, Pizza and Daiquiris and
Cato. Also, there will be a bridal salon, a Chinese restaurant, a bank, an
insurance office, a cell phone retail outlet. Ace Check Cashing is already
open on the grounds. Peacock said most of the tenants who will begin moving
in late summer should be open as early as October. 
 
President Taffaro said such good news bodes well for St. Bernard, but now is
a critical time for business and consumers to shop local and encourage
businesses to use local suppliers as well. Supporting new and existing
businesses is important because they impact direct sales tax revenues which
helps fund basic governmental, sheriff, and educational services in St.
Bernard.  
 
"Our local business community is made up of some of the hardest working and
dedicated entrepreneurs around," Taffaro said. "And despite their common
goal of business sustainability, we are missing a connectedness between and
in our local economy- the organized buying power amongst our businesses and
the constant focus on the support of our local economy through the support
of our local businesses.  A successful approach to this issue is creating
'buying synergy.'"
 
Buying synergy or cross buying is creating a network for buying practices
that allows the businesses in the network to support one another, thus the
cross buying.  With the level of technology available, this network could be
established rather easily.  An additional part of this synergy is the
concept of the importance of buying local.
 
"While small business owners are responsible for establishing their cross
buying networks that allow for sharing and distributing their overhead costs
where possible in advertising, paper/supplies purchases, operating expenses,
rent or lease costs, our responsibility is to shop these businesses locally
whenever possible," President Taffaro said. "Certainly, the public is not
responsible for businesses working together, but we as a customer base can
certainly ask business owners if they are doing their part by cross buying
in every possible instance."
 
With the rebuilding of WalMart, the construction of Lowes, the upcoming
opening of The Mall, and the ongoing development of the business strip in
Chalmette, there will be additional opportunities for local buying.
 
"But the critical part of this plan is that WE MUST BUY IN ST. BERNARD
WHENEVER AND WHEREVER WE CAN," President Taffaro said. "Avoid being a
passive consumer, let businesses know that your purchases are going to be
directed to businesses who are doing their part to keep the business
community healthy and buying locally whenever possible, not just when
convenient.
 
"I encourage everyone to take the time to review your purchasing habits and
do whatever you can to buy locally and invite others to do the same.  Our
local business community and our parish's economy depend on it."
 
For more information about opportunities to lease at The Mall, call Kenny
Hurst at The Stevens Group. He may be reached at his office at 504-888-6788,
by cell at 504-616-4142 or by email at KennyHurst at TheStevensGroupInc.com.
 
For more information about business support, call Rebecca S. Martin,
Executive Director, St. Bernard Economic Development Commission. She can be
reached at 504-569-1908 or r.martin at stbernardforward.org. 
 
For more information about the Growth and Recovery of St. Bernard, please
visit our website at www.sbpg.net.