General Manager's Note - May, 2008

General Manager's Note - May, 2008

Written by Karin Shaver Thursday, 08 May 2008

 

I heard from dozens of local readers who called and e-mailed to thank us for the inaugural Southwest Austin Community Impact Newspaper. One of the businesses we wrote about last month told us that after the paper came out they had their busiest weekend yet. That reminds me of a restaurant review from our Leander/Cedar Park edition. The weekend after the paper came out, they ran out of food! That’s a problem we don’t mind causing.

Prior to working for the paper, I was a store manager for a large national retailer. Now that I work for a small business owner, I appreciate local business with a new perspective. These are the types of businesses that make our communities special and different.

In order to maintain our journalistic integrity, our profiles are completely separate from advertising and our content is never paid for. This is an important distinction we make and is an unusual concept for a free publication.

While visiting a South Austin business, our publisher, John Garrett, was talking with a fellow business owner about his theory that this is the year of the small business. It makes sense that since the Austin economy is faring so much better than the national economy, local businesses can take advantage of the hesitancy of many of the national companies to grow, expand or spend.

While there is still some sentiment of economic uncertainty, by and large, most Austin residents are still buying large.

Maybe we can cause a stir by supporting our local businesses enough that they run out of product. I’m always up for a challenge.

Karin Shaver, General Manager

kshaver@impactnews.com