One way you can perform your civic duty is by eating.
Sounds too good to be true, right?
But a look at the data confirms something interesting happening in our economy, both at the local and national level.
The Greater Starkville Development Partnership recently released a survey that shows of the city’s annual $608 million in retail sales, more than half comes from food — restaurant and grocery store sales.
In April, the Golden Triangle’s two largest cities — brought in restaurant sales tax revenues of a combined $335,000. Starkville, with its large student population, brought in $184,000 in April while Columbus netted $151,000 from restaurant sales alone.
Nationally, American’s obsession for food had helped stave off a slump in local retail sales as more and more Americans turn to the Internet for purchases.
In a clash of retail giants, a few months ago Amazon passed Wal-Mart as the nation’s retail sales leader and this week came the announcement that Amazon was buying Whole Foods, a high-end grocery chain.
The implications should be obvious.
While Americans may rely more and more on the Internet for many of the goods they purchase, when it comes to dining, the Internet has no viable answer to restaurants and grocery stores.
Restaurants are especially thriving. Since 2005, sales at “food services and drinking places” have grown twice as fast as all other retail spending. In 2016, for the first time ever, Americans spent more money in restaurants and bars than at grocery stores.
But how does this translate in to helping our communities?
There is one big way. Unlike online retail sales, every dollar we spend at our grocery stores and restaurants is subject to the state’s 7-percent sales tax and restaurants in both Columbus and Starkville tack on an additional 2-percent in sale tax earmarked for tourism and community development.
Restaurants provide jobs, too, and while these aren’t the best-paying jobs, the industry is reporting a growth in wages. And since many restaurants are locally owned, the money generated here stays here.
Today, both cities have a bigger, more diverse menu of restaurants as dining out becomes more than just sustenance, but entertainment, too.
And if it helps our local economy, that’s a win for us all.
Let’s eat!
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.