Truly great surfing spots are rare, which is why surfers originated the Locals Only philosophy. They wanted to protect their territory from outsiders and enjoy what made their "turf" special. Hand-painted signs like the one in our logo were intended to keep non-locals from moving in on their territory. And when outsiders tried to take over, the locals showed that they wouldn't go down without a fi
ght. As a community, we must adopt a Shop Locals Only philosophy! Our locally-owned businesses are under attack from outsiders who take away some of unique traits what makes our town special. Brand-name restaurants, big-box retailers, fast food franchises and national chain stores are everywhere you look – and there are more of these "outsiders" opening every day! This is our home, but these retail Goliaths just see our town as a target marget to be exploited. The more money they can draw out of our community to send to their headquarters, the richer they become while our local economy suffers. About $.70 of every dollar spent at a business headquartered out of state leaves our local economy immediately. Small business owners are in a fight for their lives. Too many of our locally owned stores, restaurants and service providers have closed because they weren't able to draw enough local residents to their doors. And our local residents suffer too, paying more and more in taxes because money is siphoned out of our local economy by companies headquartered in other states. It's time for residents and retailers alike to take a "Locals Only" approach to shopping. Brand-name restaurants, big-box retailers, fast food franchises and national chain stores are not what make our town special. The only way to keep our town unique and our local economy healthy is to support locally owned stores, restaurants and services that give us our sense of community. Are you willing to let local retailers keep closing? Do you want more boarded up stores in our town? Or are you ready to fight to protect our turf?
