Putting The Lowcountry First

One of Charleston’s biggest local business boosters, Jamee Haley, calls West Ashley home, and thinks parts of this neck of the woods holds the perfect balance of local and national stores.
For the past six years Haley, a native of Tulsa, Okla., has spearheaded Lowcountry Local First, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening Charleston’s business climate by fostering more loyalty to locally owned stores.
Currently there are close to 500 different businesses that have joined LLF, with about one-third of those from West Ashley, said Haley, who left high-end cooking to cheer for the home team.
Haley has had two kids attend Academic Magnet High School, one now at University of Florida,  and the younger one working hard in Mr. McCormack’s biology class. Her husband is a local developer who sharpened his skills at the Noisette project.
Last week, LLF started its month-long “Buy Local Month,” an initiative to drive consumer traffic to local, independent businesses during the holiday shopping season. The initiative will end on Dec. 15.
“By shopping at locally-owned businesses, consumers are supporting local job creation and reinvesting more dollars in the local economy,” said Haley. “Which in turn bolsters our tax base, leading to improvements to parks, schools and the community at large.”
Haley, who lives in the Huntington Woods neighborhood off Orange Grove Road, has a lot of affection for her “community at small” – West Ashley.
When asked where are her favorite haunts this side of the Ashley River, she ticks them off like a metronome on speed:
“I just love Al di la Italian restaurant, the Glass Onion restaurant, the toy shop Wonderworks, Half Moon Outfitters, Holy Cow Yoga where I do yoga.”
For years, Haley said she has been “preaching” her belief that South Windermere has the perfect example of retail, living, and recreation combined into a “walkable community, even more so than downtown.”
“You can get whatever you want so easily, and it’s not so geared for the tourists,” said Haley. “You can live nearby and hit the grocery, get some shoes, get your other shoes fixed, go to the library …”
Eventually, she takes a breath.
And then she starts up again:
“Imagine West Ashley without local businesses. South Windermere would be all Starbucks and all there would be to eat was Pizza Hut; it would not be the same,” she said. “Earth Fare may not be locally owned, but [South Windermere] is still a great example of how local and national shops can coexist.”
“It’s a lot easier these days to ‘go local’ than ever before, and a lot of people go local first, because they know that a lot of the local businesses were started by experts in their fields, people who make sure their employees know and understand their products on a deeper level.”
“There’s a different level of service going on when you go to local places,” said Haley.