Prepare for back to school with Owensboro business

Our local school systems are headed back to school this week and our Owensboro college kids are getting ready to head to school as well. School zones will be crowded again in the mornings. Kids who have been sleeping past noon will be groggy-eyed and tired for a couple of weeks.

Our student athletes who have been practicing in this heat, will be glad to sit in air-conditioned classrooms. Our local teachers and school staff are at work dedicating their days (and nights and weekends) to our community.

We can all remember what it was like to head back to school and get the supply list of cool new things we needed to start our year. Even the most school-averse (that would be me), looked forward to the new notebooks and folders. No matter how badly the last year ended, the blank, crisp pages were always promising.

Uniforms, new clothes, shoes, socks, lunch boxes and all of those wonderful supplies… it is a big business. Spent locally, it is good business for all of us.

We have many options locally for all of these products. And shopping here saves money in shipping fees or gas. Big picture and long term it saves big. Local dollars are job creators and economy growers. Each dollar we spend here turns over one three times, depending on where we shop. We are doing business with the people who are investing with us.

Our chamber has many members who sell any of these supplies. There is not one back to school item that a chamber member cannot provide. Go to our chamber website at Owensboro.com and search our business directory or call our office for referrals. Chamber members are at the top of the game and are reinvesting daily in Greater Owensboro. I personally ask you to shop them first.

All the best to our students, teachers and school families for a great new year.

By Candance Brake President and CEO Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce