| About > Learn More
|
Ask a question
|
|
|
About Go Buy Rochester
Welcome! And thank you for spending some time with us.
If you have looked around during your visit, you’ve discovered that GoBuyRochester.com is an online marketplace where we make shopping local easy. That’s important – but it’s not our heart. Our passion is about the economic impact that Go Buy Rochester will have on our region, on our communities, and on each of us. It’s really that simple.
Go Buy Rochester (GBR) is an initiative of equaTEK Interactive, a business that we started in 2003. We developed an e-commerce software application (named CABWorx) and were about to introduce it to the national market when the 2008 recession hit. Surviving the recession was tough, and many of our clients, friends, and family were impacted through business closings, job loss, and constant uncertainty. It was definitely not the best of times!
With signs of an economic upturn came hope… but unlike previous economic recoveries, this upturn proved to be modest and slow to gain momentum. As that reality settled in, we began to explore how we might do something that would make an economic difference for not only us, but for our neighbors, too.
Our explorations led us back to Main Street USA, where the life of local economics still lives. The fact is, the backbone of our economy still sits on the shoulder of finished goods manufacturing and retail sales, yet we as a society have made it difficult for busy consumers to get easy access to the things they need. Local retailers, with good reason, often follow a 9-5 schedule – the same schedule the coveted consumer is working!
Think about it. Dual incomes have become a necessity for household survival, and shopping has become a task to be managed with efficiency and ease. Convenience and accessibility gave rise to the growth and success of the big box national chains and now, online eCommerce. So today, busy consumers find and buy everything online. The question is, do they have the option of shopping with the locally-owned-and-operated business?
With Go Buy Rochester, the answer is YES. Now, CABWorx provides the functionality that allows GBR to present an online community of local businesses and their products and services. Consumers can shop at GoBuyRochester.com on their schedule and, through a single check-out process, purchase items from any (or all) of our GBR Members.
The potential impact on our area economy is huge. Studies prove every dollar spent with a locally-owned merchant has three times the impact of a dollar spent at a big box store. We believe that business and job growth will be a reality when we restore economic health to our Main Street.
We hope that you will visit our Members' pages, read their stories, and get to know them. John and Colleen of Cheesy Eddies are proud to provide you with incredible desserts, while Asha at Tasteful Additions will guide you on an incredible journey as you indulge the experiences of olive oils and vinegars. Best of all, you will find their products – and many more – right here at GoBuyRochester.com! You can begin your shopping experience right now. Let us invite you in!
Ed Hanchett & Dave Madison
Founders, equaTEK Interactive
|
|