With per capita retail sales of $10,849, Mclennan County (Waco MSA) ranks 26 out of Texas’ 254 counties, according to the Texas Retail Survey.  Per capita spending in Waco MSA is 11 percent greater than the $9,743 average experienced throughout the state.  Fourth quarter sales tax receipts were up 4.1 percent in 2011 compared to the same period in 2010 continuing a trend of growth in spending. 

Increased spending is often related to increased employment, which is also growing in the Waco area.  In fact, Waco was recently recognized in the top 10 percent of the U.S. as one of 34 of the 372 MSAs to have grown employment to pre-recession levels.  Employment in Waco MSA is at an all-time record level as of December 2011.     

Employment growth in Waco is among the best in the nation, according to the Garner Economics LLC Metro Jobs Report.  Waco is one of only 34 of the the 372 metros in the U.S. to have exceeded its pre-recession employment, according to Garner’s analysis of November 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics employment numbers.   As of November 2011, Waco’s one-year job growth of 1.7 percent more than doubled the national average of 0.7 percent.       

As we move into the mad dash days of the holiday season, we cannot help but get caught up in the commercial aspects of the activities.  The businesses in Greater Waco are looking forward to a strong December sales to finish 2011 and propel into the new year.  This is precisely the time we should be thinking “Buy Local”.

The Greater Waco Chamber encourages individuals and businesses to consider local vendors for all of your purchases of products and services.  From the gifts to your employees, to the caterer for your office party, to the upgrade of equipment and building renovations, the Greater Waco business community can meet your needs.  We are fortunate to have a very diverse market that can help you achieve your personal and company goals.   Conducting business with local companies strengthens our local economy and expands the offerings that make us an attractive location.

The Chamber website, WacoChamber.com, offers several tools that can help you maximize your own buy local efforts.  The Chamber Xchange program provides companies the opportunity to offer discounts for members.  This cost saving program includues all kinds of products and services.  We encourage you to add to the list of 100 businesses offer discounts and to share Chamber Xchange cards with your employees so that they can benefit from your Chamber membership.  Additionally, the new online business directory is your resource for the 1500+ Chamber members offering an easy search process providing address, phone number AND a location map for each contact.

Follow us in the coming months as we bring together other resources on WacoChamber.com through Chamber Xchange that help you buy and sell locally.  Happy Holidays!  I look forward to seeing you around town.

Scott Connell

Senior Vice President Strategic Development

The inaugural Waco Youth Fly-in held on Saturday, October 22 at the Texas State Technical College Airport was a resounding success.  Coordinated through the efforts of the Bronze Eagles Flying Club, Greater Waco Aviation Alliance, TSTCand numerous volunteers, the event provided students across McLennan County with exposure to the aviation and aerospace career opportunities available from local employers and beyond.  In addition to the presence of local companies and career paths, more than 20 pilots provided airplane rides to more than 200 youth via private aircraft further adding to their aviation experience.

What do Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Chattanooga, Branson, Portland, Eugene and Greenville have in common? Each is a great city that has been visited by business and governmental leaders as part of the Greater Waco Chamber’s Leadership InterCity Visit series. 

Annually some 20 to 30 leaders have invested three or more days to learn about innovative ideas, programs, initiatives and best practices that could be adapted and implemented in Greater Waco. During this year’s visit we heard Greenville’s mayor, chamber, innovation and economic development leaders tell about a city’s transformation that was not tied to a single project as was the case with the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga or the Landing in Branson, but rather to a series of strategic public-private investments.  

The Hyatt Greenville hotel and conference center was a catalytic project when it opened in 1982 to anchor the north end of downtown’s Main Street. The hotel was followed by the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in 1990 as a southern anchor development. A decade later the circa 1925 Poinsett Hotel—inhabited for years by pigeons!—underwent a $25 million makeover and reopened as a Westin hotel.  

The star in the city’s crown, however, is the Falls Park and Liberty Bridge that opened in 2004. Mayor Knox White told us that most Greenville residents didn’t know there was a natural waterfall in the middle of downtown since it was covered for decades by a concrete bridge. During our visit, we joined citizens and visitors in strolling across the 345-foot-long pedestrian bridge that is cantilevered toward the waterfall by cables from two 90-foot-tall masts.  When city leaders proposed closing the bridge to make way for a park at the falls, they were met with vocal and persistent opponents who feared massive traffic congestion.

“When we closed the bridge nothing happened,” White said. “Nothing!” (He said “Nothing happened” three or four times for emphasis.)  

As impressed as we were of the Falls Park, Class A office and residential buildings, high-rise Hampton Inn and Courtyard hotels on the river, and a new ballpark for the Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, we were equally envious of the variety of restaurants, bars and retail establishments and galleries that made a walk on the tree-shaded and immaculately maintained Main Street a pleasant experience.  

Our Waco delegation also toured the BMW manufacturing plant in the regional city of Spartanburg and visited the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research that has become a top 10 graduate automotive engineering program attracting companies to the park that want to tap into the best emerging minds in automotive technology.   

We were briefed by high-impact entrepreneurs in the Next Innovation Center where tech start-ups, growing businesses and even angel investors rent and share space, coffee, and brainpower. The creative vibe in the Next Center is so strong that walls are covered with writable surfaces so great ideas can be scribbled down anywhere, anytime.   

A leading national site selector told us of the importance of branding as a region and having the talent and real estate ready-to-go when economic development projects come our way and we heard first-hand the success that has resulted from Upstate Alliance doing just that. 

The Waco delegation was led by Chamber Board Chair Don Moes and Mayor Jim Bush. Other participants were Marty Bush; Dr. Steve Corwin; Randy Cox, board chair of McLennan Community College and a member of the Chamber Board; Bob Davis, president of the Waco Business League and a past chair of the Chamber; Stewart Kelly, Chair-elect of the Chamber; Johnette McKown, President of McLennan Community College and a member of the Chamber Board; Aaron McMillan, Presenting Sponsor of the Leadership InterCity Visit and Kimberly McMillan;  Also Ed Page, Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Chamber; Valerie Robinson, a member of the Chamber Board; Terry Stevens, Immediate Past Board Chair of the Chamber and Elaine Stevens; Jim Vaughan, President of the Chamber and Patty Vaughan; and the following member of the Chamber staff—Linda Beasley, Executive Vice President; Ken Hampton, Sr. V.P. Community Development; Sarah Roberts, Sr. V.P. Economic Development; and Chris McGowan, Director of Urban Development. 

At a debriefing on our last day in Greenville, Ed Page expressed perhaps the most important lesson learned from the visit when he said, metaphorically, “We need to find our ‘bridge’ to tear down!”