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Wilton residents, business owners, town government, and organizations can benefit by communicating and supporting one another. Coordinating our efforts, we can enhance and promote Wilton as a vibrant community offering social, cultural, and economic opportunity. The Wilton Group provides the community with the organizational structure needed to promote communication and collaboration.

Notices

CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING DVD LENDING LIBRARY

Visit one of the below listed locations in Franklin County to borrow training DVDs about customer service. DVDs are an easy way to train your staff, as well as give you a refresher in customer service.

- Lending Library Locations -

Franklin County Chamber of Commerce
248 Wilton Rd., Farmington
778-4215
Email

Jay-Livermore-Livermore Falls Chamber of Commerce
Adult Learning Center
9 Cedar St., Livermore Falls
897-6384
Email

Think Local First

Campaign for Locality

Have you ever thought about where you spend your money, and where it goes afterward?
With the support of our local businesses, The Wilton Group is launching “Think Local First” on June 24th. “Think Local First” is a campaign which aims to show how you can make a difference locally by taking a minute to think where you spend your money. We all make decisions with where and how we spend, but we don’t all take the following questions into consideration:

  • Do I shop at local businesses when possible?
  • Do I buy my groceries from a locally owned market or supermarket?
  • Do I eat fresh, locally grown vegetables?
  • Do I buy fresh meats, poultry, and cheeses from local farms and markets?
  • Do I eat at local restaurants?
  • Do I get my oil changed at an independently owned garage?
  • Do I refer friends and family to local businesses?
  • Do I purchase gifts from local shops?
  • Do I use a local bank?

The list goes on and on and you can see these are not difficult questions.  Many of us tend to think that it does not make a difference whether we stop at the store down the street or at the super-store across town, but we assure you it does!
Our goal is to publicize the values provided by community-based businesses and their importance to the local economy.  Together we can prevent the displacement of community-based businesses and promote a vibrant and healthy local economy.  We are looking to residents and businesses for their support as we “Think Local First”.

Top Ten reasons to Think Local – Buy Local – Be Local

Source: http://sustainableconnections.org/thinklocal/why/

  1. Buy Local — Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms — continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.(Click here to see summaries of a variety of economic impact studies; these include case studies showing that locally-owned businesses generate a premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base.)
  2. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.
  3. Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun — all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit.  “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust
  4. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
  5. Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents.
  6. Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.
  7. Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.
  8. Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
  9. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.  A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
  10. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.