'Buy Here. Thrive Here.' Takes 'Buy Here. Live Here.' to the Next Level

It has been ten years since the Blair County Chamber introduced its “Buy Here. Live Here.” initiative to encourage more businesses to take a hard look at their purchasing practices.

A survey, created by a couple business professors from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 2008, helped chambers in five counties to determine how many business dollars were leaving the Southern Alleghenies region for destinations outside that region. The results were mind-boggling.

In the case of Blair County, that number was $2.9 million-a-day. And that didn’t include consumer spending. The Cham...