Domain Home Accessories' Mike Knettle featured in The Gabber article: "Why Keep it Local?" (page 45)

By Kate Bradshaw of The Gabber

Bold lettering spells out the word “cocky” on the famous belt buckle.

Mike Knettel, owner of Domain Home Accessories, a shop on Gulfport’s Beach Boulevard that features primarily work of local artists, says that the artist who crafted it, Burbank, Cal.-based Karyn Cantor, somehow caught the eye of the right person. Soon enough, the belt buckle sporting the synonym for overconfidence was the focus of an entire episode of the television series Bones.

As of press time, it is unknown whether an accessory featured at any big box store you can name has a story that’s remotely as interesting. As we zero in on the home stretch of yet another expensive procession of holidays, as we peck at our calculators by night and terrorize each other over a few bucks by day, some business owners and community leaders say it’s time to bring it all back home.

Knettel, who is also the treasurer of the Gulfport Merchants’ Association, says that the group preaches the gospel of 3-50-68.

The formula goes as follows: shop at three local stores once a week. Spend a total of at least $50 a month at each place. Doing so can keep as much as 68 out of every 100 dollars you spend within in the local economy.

The difference between shopping local and going corporate is significant.

“When you shop at the big box stores, 13 out of every 100 dollars spent stays local,” he says.

Those numbers, of course, can vary but the difference is considerable any way you look at it.

The idea of shopping local seems to be catching on. On the most recent Black Friday, even as shoppers camped overnight just to get good deals, some coming to blows, some local merchants are saying that they have done unexpectedly well.

On the heels of one the heaviest shopping days of the year (the Saturday before Christmas is reportedly the biggest, and not Black Friday), Ken Lipe, who manages a shell shop on St. Pete Beach’s Corey Avenue, said that the shop saw a decent crowd.

“It’s been very busy today,” he said on the Friday after Thanksgiving. “Better than it’s been.”

Lipe said he attributes this primarily to visiting families and others who enjoy the “more laidback shopping” such small clusters of local businesses offer.

“It’s leisurely,” said Corey Corners owner Kathi Hansen, who added that things like free parking and local character add to the appeal of going local.

In the days leading up to holidays so fraught with conflicting messages (peace and goodwill versus vicious, unbridled consumerism), the hope among local merchants is that shoppers will look beyond short term things like convenience and cost, and instead recognize long term benefits of investing in one’s community