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Elgin, Illinois is in the midst of implementing a comprehensive retail strategy. The key components of the strategy are laid out in an article here.
One of the key components of retail strategy is to identify where the "leakage" is taking place in your economy. Retail leakage takes place when consumers shop outside your community or region. The stragey involves identifying these leaks and providfing retail alternatieves, so they will shop inside your economy.
Reducing retail leakage accelerates the velocity of money in your economy and increases, in the economists' term, your "multiplier".
There is another important principle at work here. By plugging the leaks you have an opportunity to enhance the local character of your economy. Local, independent retailers build the personality of your economy and create the unique character that can serve as a magnet for outsiders.
Arguably, local retailers also have stronger ties to the local economy and enhance the multiplier effect. (This topic is controversial, beacuse it often touches on locating, recruiting and giving incentives to "big box" retailers. Here are a couple of websites that explore the issue: here and here.)
To learn more about plugging the "leaks" in your economy, check out this website from the UK.
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