Jason Hughes has been operating his shop, Sonic Boom Records & CDs in Ballard for the past seven years and with the recent economic downturn he got to thinking that it's time for Ballardites to start supporting the businesses that make their neighborhood unique.

Out of this urge he created a program and reached out to different local businesses in Ballard who were worried about their survival and wanted to be involved in a grass roots campaign called Shop Local/Think Local.

"A friend of mine in Arizona runs a non-profit called Local First Arizona, she's basically doing what we're doing here but in Phoenix," said Hughes. "She's to the point where she's gotten the whole city involved and the mayor declaring the first week of December Shop Local Week. Council members are also involved and they have a Web site, it's great."

Not yet shooting for a city-wide campaign, Hughes went door to door to many fellow Ballard businesses talking to managers and owners seeking to communicate and come together to create some sort of online communication and start getting the word out to the city, hotels, the airport and ferries to get a Ballard shopping/walking guide together.

"There are great guides in Portland and Vancouver and some in Seattle but they're specific to certain areas," Hughes said. "This is going to be a local thing which will include the Sunday market and to really try and get people into their local communities. It's making them understand what spending their money in local stores means."

With 40 businesses agreeing to support the campaigns' first movement, Hughes created a poster explaining the benefits of shopping in your local neighborhood, how it helps the environment, how it creates better service and noting that independent businesses are the largest contributors to local charities.

"When you shop local three times the revenue remains in your community, supporting parks, schools and more!" shares the Shop Local/Think Local poster. "For every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $45 goes back into the community and our tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back."

The idea Hughes had for the poster ad is to get people to start thinking about where they're spending their money, what they want in their community and what the characteristics of their community are and whether or not they want to keep them.

"The bottom line is if things get really bad around here, in a year the stores that people love might not be here if they completely close off their personal interests," said Hughes.

The next goal Hughes has for the campaign is to get a second wave of local businesses involved to help create the shopping/walking guide and signage that reaffirms the benefits of keeping it local.

The campaign says, "By supporting independent businesses today, you are investing in a unique and sustainable future for our community. Small business owners are people who live locally and are more invested in our future. Local businesses are also the largest employer nationally and they provide the most new jobs to residents."

"By investing in your community and the people who work and live in your community and understand you, it really forms the character of the neighborhood," said Hughes. "If you spend less make it count."

To get involved in the Shop Local/Think Local campaign contact Jason Hughes at jason@sonicboomrecords.com.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 783-1244 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.

By Michael Harthorne

On a chilly night in December, nearly 100 people lined up along Ballard Avenue, some an hour early, to support local businesses and strive for a more environmentally sustainable holiday.

The Sit and Sip event, held Dec. 3 at Camelion Design, is the first of what hosts Piper Salogga and Sara Eizen hope will be a quarterly event focusing on sustainability and shopping locally.

"We are so thrilled," said Salogga, owner of Natural Balance Home and Office. "We had no idea there would be a line for an hour."

Sit and Sip comes during a plethora of efforts to support independent businesses in the area, including Sonic Boom owner Jason Hughes' Shop Local/Think Local campaign.

At Sit and Sip, guests were given gift bags full of goods and services from Ballard businesses, coupons for local businesses and the chance to win a raffle for more locally-sold products. There were also green holiday ideas from Camelion Design such as recycled aluminum ornaments and cards made of 100 percent post-consumer waste.

Salogga said she hoped the event would convince more people to come back to Ballard to do their Christmas shopping.

It's important that shoppers remember local businesses during the holidays because there are many innovative merchants in Ballard that need more support than larger stores, she said.

Eizen, owner of Nest, said it is especially important to support independent local stores during the current tough economic times.

"It seems like there's so much doom and gloom out there," she said. "It was nice to spend time with people who had such positive energy."

The next Sit and Sip event will be a home accessory swap Feb. 28.

Michael Harthorne may be reached at 783-1244 or michaelh@robinsonnews.com.