Is Congdon's Pharmacy gone? What does it mean?

There's a rumor going around that Congdon's Pharmacy on Main will soon close to make way for a high-end jewelry store.

I'm not certain if this is true, but I do know one thing. Any loss of a local business is bad for this island.

The Vineyard, as a community, decided to purchase a general store that was in danger of being re-developed. Can we, or should we try to do the same? There is some talk in preservationists and sustainability circles about a retail property bank to mirror the Land Bank. This seems like a laudable idea, and here's why:

[Long story alert. But worth reading]

I spent a little time in Avon, CT this week. Very pretty town. Just outside Avon, there is a new outdoor mall (in Clinton, I thnk?) and that Mall brings people in to brands like Barnes and Noble, Panera (free wifi!) Starbucks, Blue Tulip, Talbots, Pier One, and the like.

I went to this place with an art director friend (we work in Panera and Starbucks because his office is under construction) and I asked him how the town liked this mall. He said it has been very popular.

[Math alert. Don't skip the numbers here. They are compelling]

Then I explained to him that, according to a couple of comprehensive economic studies I have read, a dollar spent at a place Like Starbucks or Panera returns around $0.15 to the community in which the chain is located. But a dollar spent at a local independent coffee shop returns, on average, three times as much to the local economy : $0.45.

Apply that formula to Nantucket. Every time a local business like Congdons is eclipsed by a store owned by some off-island concern, we lose 2/3rds of the cash that that retail space puts back into the economy.

In a $1.5-billion market (excluding real estate) such as Nantucket, that means that if 75% of our businesses are locally owned and operated, there is $565.5 million returned to the island economy.

If 50% is locally owned, there is $450 million put back into our local economy.

And if only 25% is locally owned, $337.5 million goes back into our local economy.

I'm not certain what percentage of the businesses here are locally owned. But I am certain of one thing. A Nantucket with $565.5 million recirculating in our local economy is far more likely to survive and thrive and sustain itself than a local economy with $337.5 million in it.

This is why I think an important anchor property like the Dreamland needs to be locally owned and controlled, even if it is by the town, using tax dollars to do it. It's an economic certainty that off-island ownership will harm us more than help us.

And anyone who says there's no harm in Ralph Lauren or Lily Pulitzer is just wrong. Those business are siphoning big bucks away from our economy, sending them off-island and weakening us as a community.

15 cents on the dollar is not enough to offset the loss of community buying power. This is why we need to continue to buy local and protect our local businesses. This is why places like Congdons and Bartlett's and Slozeks and Island Lumber need to survive.

[Big, dramatic conclusion alert.]

This is a message that both year-round and seasonal residents and visitors need to take into account. If you love this island, you need to feed it!

When one buys from a local person, even if you are paying more, you are paying to keep the island economically sustainable for hundreds of your neighbors.

Folks.

That's what its all about. Folks.

G.