Tom Garrity

Archive for August, 2017|Monthly archive page

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Dancing on the Graves of NM Small Business?

In Messaging on August 17, 2017 at 1:48 pm

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The sticker on the morning newspaper (yes, I still get home delivery of two newspapers) caught my attention, but not the way advertisers intended.

Despite economic revivals in surrounding states, New Mexico continues to be mired in a multi-year recession. Some franchise stores have struggled, some have succeeded and others have even opened in New Mexico during that time.  Small businesses have been hit the hardest during this time.

Back to the sticker.

“we hear a store closed in your neighborhood. We’ve got you covered. KOHL’S® the best brands. The best savings. The best place to shop.”

The sticker left me with the impression that KOHL’S® is dancing on the graves of New Mexico small business.

However, the misworded ad provided a chance to do a quick dive into the 2017 Garrity Perception Survey (#GPS17) to see what kind of impact National Franchise stores have in New Mexico.

Overall, New Mexicans generally prefer to purchase products and services from locally owned stores over national franchise stores (41% to 8%).

Before small business starts doing high fives, nearly half of all residents (47%) say it doesn’t matter.  And, when we asked residents in 2013 what their favorite local store was the number one response was Walmart.

And, it doesn’t get much better.

The #GPS17 also surveyed New Mexico residents on how often they make purchases in national and local stores.

When making purchases in-store at local stores, 44% of New Mexicans do so at least once a week with 21% saying they do so several times a week. When it comes to making in-store purchases at national retail stores, 38% of New Mexicans say they do so at least once a week, and another 30% do so a few times a month.

While residents are preferring to shop local, they are shopping at national franchises more often each month.

In the coming months, The Garrity Group will be taking a closer look at how residents shop through online and mobile devices in addition to other buying patterns.  This misstep by KOHL’S® caught my attention and presented an opportunity for context.

The Garrity Group commissioned Albuquerque-based Research & Polling to conduct the Garrity Perception Survey from February 8-14, 2017. A total of 403 adult New Mexico residents were interviewed by telephone (both landlines and cell phones), providing a 95 percent level of confidence. For more information and analysis – or to request a copy of the Garrity Perception Survey 2017 – visit http://www.garrityperceptionsurvey.com.

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New Mexico and Teacher Trust 2017

In Education on August 14, 2017 at 4:53 pm

Over the next week and a half, public schools and universities will be starting the fall semester.

A critical component to student success are teachers and the trust parents/community have in the profession. In New Mexico, the profession has been under fire as a result of various discussions about ways to track student and teacher performance.

According to the 2017 Garrity Perception Survey, 70 percent of New Mexico residents trust teachers.

Overall, females (73 percent) and residents who identify as Hispanic (73 percent) are more trusting of teachers than males (68 percent) and Anglos 69 percent).

While many age groups and household income groups trust teachers, there are some groups below the state average.  Residents between the ages of 50 – 64 and those with a household income higher than $60,000 trust teachers but fall below the state average of 70 percent.

Residents living in North Central New Mexico have a higher level of trust (76 percent) than residents in the Northwest (63 percent) and Eastern parts of the state (63 percent).  Seventy three percent of Albuquerque area residents and 66 percent of Las Cruces area residents trust teachers.2017 GPS Trust of Teachers Graphic

A glaring area, in need of improvement, are the number of residents who are lukewarm about the profession.  Statewide, a little more than two out of ten residents neither trust of district teachers.  If school districts, teachers unions and the Public Education Department hope to win public support for various initiatives the respective groups will need to claim the middle ground in addition to support in other key sectors.

The Garrity Perception Survey will be taking a closer look at the favorability of both institutions in the near future.

The Garrity Group commissioned Albuquerque-based Research & Polling to conduct the Garrity Perception Survey from February 8-14, 2017. A total of 403 adult New Mexico residents were interviewed by telephone (both landlines and cell phones), providing a 95 percent level of confidence. For more information and analysis – or to request a copy of the Garrity Perception Survey 2017 – visit www.garrityperceptionsurvey.com.

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Swim Bike & Sling

In Life, Uncategorized on August 8, 2017 at 11:42 pm

Spoiler alert! Despite how the finishing photo looked, my recent Ironman 70.3 Boulder triathlon ended with a finish and a personal best time for that distance when I raced in the 2016 Toughman event in New Mexico.

The fact I could even get close to a personal best with only 41 days of training and an unstable shoulder for most of the 13.1-mile run are two of many positive takeaways from a long day on a beautiful course!

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via Elli Martindale

The first three hundred yards of the swim was from buoy to buoy. Having difficulty catching my breath among the other 50-something age group swimmers, I let the pack thin out and finally regained composure to salvage a decent swim. The final 400 yards of the swim was filled with my brain calling out orders to the rest of the body how transitioning from swimming to standing to walking is supposed to take place. Getting out of the water, I did my best impersonation of an evolutionary tetrapod. No falling.

FullSizeRender 5The 56-mile bike effort was the best of the three disciplines. My brief training for this aspect of the race, paid off. The course was “fast”, which I really do not understand because there were points where I felt anything but fast. My time was nearly 30 minutes faster than my last race at this distance. It was fun flying by other cyclists on the downhill segments.

Then there was the run.

Throughout training, my transition to the run was the weakest element.  For the race, I set low expectations and failed to meet the minimum standards.  Yes, it was a $#!& Show that was about to go into hyper-drive in the wrong direction.

To understand what happens next, you need to know a little bit about my family medical history. Here is a recap:

  • Brother – three shoulder surgeries
  • Sister – three shoulder surgeries
  • Me – two shoulder surgeries

At mile two, my foot tripped on something and I staggered my step, some would call it a trip without a fall. The jarring nature of the event caused my shoulder to become unstable and the socket and rising out of the right socket only to capture a nerve and other things on its way back into place.  How did it feel? Think of hitting your funny bone and the sensation resonating throughout your entire arm. Welcome to my world.

It turns out the running action was causing my elbow to drop, pulling my shoulder nearly out of socket. For the next five miles I adapted by clutching my shirt, below the collar. It helped temporarily but caused some to think I might be having a heart attack or other medical event. Not so good. Then at mile eight, I hailed a motorcycle medic and explained what was happening with the shoulder. The medic fashioned a triangle bandage into a sling and wrapped it tight to stabilize my elbow. Relief. It worked! I could now run with confidence, and I did.

FullSizeRender 3About three miles from the finish it occurred to me that a new personal best might be within reach. The 2016 Toughman time to beat was 6:57:19. Honestly, I did not remember the time, only thought it was about 6:56 and change. My final time was 6:57:08, something I did not fully realize until putting this blog together.

Time to go celebrate #Cheers!