By David Harry
Staff Writer

Lois and Dan Porta have been buying locally for the 16 years they have operated Lois’ Natural Marketplace on Route 1.
Now they have joined a local campaign to bolster locally owned businesses while creating what Town Councilor Karen D’Andrea called a sustainable local economy.
“It is not just about benefiting businesses, that is like touching the elephant’s leg and not seeing the whole elephant,” D’Andrea said.
D’Andrea, who is also the owner of a nonprofit consulting business, said more than 50 business owners have signed on to a buy-local Scarborough campaign that will publish a guide to businesses next month and then create a program similar to Portland Dine Around next spring.
The program will feature a coupon book offering discounts or other offers from participating businesses, while owners also will be allowed to change the offers as they wish. D’Andrea anticipates the coupon guide will cost $15 to $20.
The Portas said they chose Scarborough to open their business after scouting other locations in the Portland area and have since drawn customers from a 20-mile radius.
As they prepared for a busy week of Thanksgiving shoppers, Lois Porta said the store was stocking about 30 organic produce items grown locally. The chance to band together with other locally owned businesses is an extension of their business plan.
“I see this as a synergy,” Lois Porta said. “We are all parts and have a new way to be viewed.”
For a membership fee of $50 a year, owners of businesses who live in the area and make 100 percent of the decisions regarding operations are invited to band together, D’Andrea said.
David Hopkinson, who owns Henry VIII Carvery in the Scarborough Gateway on Payne Road, makes the business decisions with his wife, Jessica, although the restaurant is a franchise. Because that is a contrast to what owners of other fast-food restaurants are required to do in franchise agreements, it has allowed Hopkinson to participate in the formation of the campaign.
As Hopkinson became involved on the board of directors for the campaign, he contributed his perceptions as a restaurant owner to a growing realm of business owners interested in the campaign.
It led board members to Brown Fox Printing on Route 1 as they priced quotes for printing by local publications. Brown Fox Printing has been open since 1983 and Russ Burleigh bought the business in 1998, he said.
Despite a visible location near town offices on Route 1, Burleigh said customers often are surprised to learn of the services and prices he offers.
While trying to make local customers aware of his business, Burleigh said the campaign has strengthened ties between independent business owners.
With what Scarborough Economic Development Corp. President Harvey Rosenfeld estimates to be 1,500 businesses in town, D’Andrea said she is not necessarily surprised at the level of participation in the buy local campaign.
The range of businesses involved indicates the strong entrepreneurial spirit in town, she said.
“I wanted these kind of people together in a room,” she said. “You have to have a certain amount of risk taking and some gumption.”
D’Andrea said the buy-local campaign is modeled after a similar one in Portland. She cited a survey by the nonprofit Institute for Local Self Reliance establishing that $45 of every $100 spent at local independently owned business stay in the community as opposed to $14 of every $100 spent at a larger national franchise.
No matter how it is patterned, the campaign is welcomed, said Dan Porta.
“It creates an economic fabric for the community, he said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219