ABBEVILLE, La. (KLFY)- The City of Abbeville’s mayor is reminding citizens to rethink about buying items online.
He said internet purchases hurt their city.
“I think everyone knows the idea behind shopping local. Everybody knows that you should, but a lot of people still don’t do it so we really wanted to evaluate maybe why those reasons were,” Anne Falgout, executive director of Vermilion Economic Development Alliance, said.
Falgout is talking about a program called, “Keep It Local, Vermilion.” She said it has brought a positive growth in business activities within the parish.
“What we’re hearing from local companies is that they’re also transitioning into the online market which is very exciting so we have to look at it from both directions,” explained Falgout. “We need our local residents to spend where they can locally. We understand it’s every household’s decision to decide how they spend their money, but then we also need our businesses to grow and expand and tap into new available resources like online sales.”
According to an article in the Abbeville Meridional, Mayor Mark Piazza said online purchases are affecting the city.
“By buying online, it hurts our sales tax,” the mayor said.
Falgout says they’re not exactly sure how much loss is coming from internet sales.
“I know a lot of communities are experiencing some downturn, but it looks like from the numbers from our employment rate to our GDP, things are on the rise. Additionally, our retail sales collections are on the rise too,” added Falgout.
News 10 reached out to Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza, but we had not heard back from him as of news time.
For more information on “Keep It Local, Vermilion,” visit developvermilion.org/keepitlocal or their Facebook page.
