March Business News now available

The March issue of the Corpus Christi Business News, which lands in 10,000 local business mailboxes this week, marks its first year in business with stories about the upcoming two-week-long Spring Break and features on the following local entrepreneurs: 
• Spotlight on Success — Muniz Electrical Masters and Muniz Cooling and Heating Specialists     
• New Business — Coastal Wellness, natural healing services    
• Business News — HoneyBaked Ham Cafe aims for Portland store     
• New Business — Green Volt EV Conversions, electric bicycles, skateboards and cars     
• Long Time Business — Daddy O’s Paint and Body
You’ll also find out how optometrist Dr. John Gill uses fishing to teach his three boys life’s lessons while reeling in the fishing awards and how you can help improve area parks with a little time and a garden hoe. 
Local business news includes the latest on the windstorm insurance bill introduced during the recent legislative session, the city’s rainwater barrel program and the Texas State Historical Association's annual meeting, which is coming to town this week. There’s all that and more in our first issue of our second year in business in the Coastal Bend!
Happy birthday, Corpus Christi Business News 
Recently released research reinforces the founding philosophy of Corpus Christi Business News, which is 1 year old this month. Dedicated to promoting locally owned and operated businesses, the Business News highlights the people who keep the city’s economic engines running. 
“Supporting the mom-and-pop stores — the small-business owners — in Corpus Christi supports the city’s economic foundation,” Texas Publishing Co. owner Dan Alvey said. Texas Publishing owns the Corpus Christi Business News, 101 Fun Things to do in Corpus Christi magazine, the Corpus Christi Monthly Ad Mailer and the Corpus Christi Area-Wide Telephone and Internet Directory, a locally owned publication that has served the community for 15 years. It also produces 101corpuschristi.com, a major marketing website that covers the broad spectrum of businesses and business news in the Coastal Bend.
“I’m a local business owner, and I support local business owners,” Alvey continued. “Locally owned businesses put more of their profits back into the community, which keeps a city economically strong and helps provide opportunity to its citizens. It’s a win-win.” 
Facts supporting that statement can be found in a recent study released in December 2014 by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. A nonprofit organization, ILSR provides studies and strategies that support environmentally sound and equitable community development. Since 1974, the group has worked with citizens, activists, policymakers and entrepreneurs to develop resources that benefit local communities. 
The study found that while national chain retailers return 14 percent of their revenue to the community, local retailers return 52 percent. Local restaurants recirculate an average of 79 percent of their local revenue compared to 30 percent for chains. The reason, according to the study, is independent businesses spend more on local labor, local goods and services from local providers. 
“This means a much larger share of the money you spend at a locally owned store stays in your local economy, supporting a variety of other businesses and jobs,” according to the report.
Another study commissioned by the same group tells the story on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Conducted in Portland, Maine, this study by the Main Center for Economic Policy shows that every $100 spent at locally owned businesses contributes an additional $58 to the local economy. Every $100 spent at a chain store yields just $33 in local economic impact. 
“If residents of the region were to shift 10 percent of their spending from chains to locally owned businesses, it would generate $127 million in additional local economic activity and 874 new jobs,” according to the report. 
A similar study in New Orleans proved locally owned businesses spend money locally, while big-box stores and chains typically send their business-to-business dollars outside the community.
Alvey didn’t need a study to tell him what he has learned from his own experience over the past 40-plus years in community newspaper, magazine and phonebook publishing. 
“Supporting local businesses supports the local economy,” he said. “I have built my own business on that philosophy. The goal of Corpus Christi Business News is to highlight the work and dedication behind those company logos and signs you see while driving through town. It’s to let our readers know who their neighbors are, who they are doing business with and what’s out there that they may not be aware of.”
Watching the Business News grow along with the community marketing website he recently launched is a source of pride for the local entrepreneur. “There’s a lot more to come,” he promised. “And it’s all geared toward promoting Corpus Christi business owners — the people who are committed to this community and are working to help it grow and prosper.”