As a small, independently owned Main Street business, the team at the Flathead Beacon understands the value of community firsthand. And if Montana truly is just one big small town with really long streets, then we want to help ensure those streets are brimming with mom-and-pop enterprises that keep our communities intact.
The concept of community is at the heart of every story we tell. It’s the driving force behind meaningful change at the local and statewide level. And across the Flathead Valley’s diverse economic spectrum, community means connection.
Emerging from an era when many people had given up hope about the commercial and cultural viability of downtown, when suburbs, shopping malls, and big box retailers were dominating the American landscape, the idea that small businesses and brick-and-mortar retail would survive, let alone foment healthy economic growth, seemed like an unlikely proposition.
But in recent decades, the Main Street movement has proven that downtowns are the heart of our communities, and that a community is only as strong as its core.
Main Street empowers communities to set their own destinies. While revitalization is challenging work, the Main Street program offers a roadmap for locally owned, locally driven prosperity.
Across the Flathead Valley, our business leaders have used the Main Street method to transform their economies, leverage local leadership, and improve the overall quality of life of their neighbors, who are also the customers they serve.
As we reimagine this publication, we hope that Shop Local can serve as a testament to the vitality of our small business communities that are the lifeblood of Montana. But don’t just take it from us.
In the magazine, which you can pick up on stands across the valley or read in digital form here, you’ll hear from local community boosters and economic leaders whose investments in and commitments to their small business communities have helped restore the economy of northwest Montana and reshape the ways in which we do business together.
From the staff at the Flathead Beacon, we wish you all success.
The above content is sponsored by Shop Local magazine. To learn more about sponsored content, email [email protected].