Jimmy Radosta stopped in at the

on Portland's Southeast 11th Avenue the other day for a couple bags of organic coffee -- and a Supportland card.

Radosta swiped the card and got 15 points for the first time he used it at the Cellar Door. The points can be used at any of the local businesses in the Supportland network, currently numbering 36 and growing by the day.

Radosta, 38-year-old freelance writer, said he read about

. "It seemed like a great idea because I believe that consumers have a lot of buying power and if they can keep money in the community, I'm all for it," he said.

is the brainchild of Katrina and Michael Scotto di Carlo of St. Johns.

The card allows shoppers to acquire credit points and cash them in at local businesses. The Cellar Door, for example, offers a "cup of Joe" for 25 points. The card replaces punch cards and other bonus systems. It's more like the reward cards used by big box retailers. And for businesses, it's both a marketing tool and a way to tap into consumer's desire to spend money locally.

"I think what's really interesting, is it takes a concept people understand, reward cards, and mixes in punch cards, and mixes in a desire to support local businesses," said Jeremy Adams, owner of the Cellar Door. "It's getting something while doing the right thing."

Adams said it is easy to get into. All he needed was a web connection, which he acquired with a $40 computer purchase.

Katrina Scotto di Carlo said about 700 people have gotten the card since the couple launched the system earlier this month.

Thirty-six businesses have registered, but there are more than 300 in the cue to be registered, Scotto di Carlo said.

"The slowest part of the process is I have to meet with everyone, one on one," she said.

Michael Scotto di Carlo has a technical background, and recently gave up his tenured position as a professor of computer technology at Clark College to work full time on the program.

"He comes up with business ideas all the time, and so to shut him up, I said don't tell me a plan unless you can do it for 20 years, we can do it together, we don't have to work other jobs, and it makes the world better," Katrina Scotto di Carlo said. "This was the first idea that passed the test."

Katrina Scotto di Carlo has an arts background and designed the Supportland points card, which features Kenton's Paul Bunyan straddling a log and knitting, roses, beavers, a coffee-drinking raccoon and a snow-packed mountain in the distance.

The couple worked on the concept for about three years.

"I think the story is more about how rad it is that locally-owned businesses have stepped up to work together, sharing customers." Scotto di Carlo said. "People can get points in one place and spend it somewhere else."

The card is free to consumers, but businesses pay $49 a month to be in the network.

So far, businesses that have signed up seem excited about it.

"I think it's a great idea," said Tony Fuentes, owner of Milagros Boutique in Northeast Portland, a children's clothing store.

"Anything that helps incentivize buying local and shopping local is a good thing," Fuentes said. "The beauty of it from the consumer side is it's very simple," he said. "One card. No separate cards for separate businesses."

One of the big advantages for businesses is the ability to attract customers from other participating businesses, Fuentes said. "It allows you to leverage a customer base you may not have had access to before."

"If someone is shopping for shoes, or adult fashions, and wants to deal with a local boutique for the children's clothes, it gives them a way to know we exist and another reason to come in and try it out," he said.

Fuentes said his store has "given out probably over a hundred cards in the last ten days." And instead of only using the points toward immediate purchases, customers also have the option to cash in 200 points for a $20 gift certificate.

At Common Ground Wellness Cooperative in Northeast Portland, cardholders can get a one-hour soak and a sauna for 140 points.

Bob New, development coordinator, said the idea may eventually turn into an alternative currency system.

At Java Bead & Trade in Irvington, a sign greets shoppers at the front door saying "Good Bye Bonus Cards, Hello Supportland!"

Amber Traeden, store manager, said they have given out about 200 of the cards so far. The incentive they offer is free time in their metal-smithing studio, three hours for 25 points.

The Scotto di Carlos hope is to expand the idea locally, and then link up with similar efforts elsewhere.

"We like to imagine stepping off a plane in Italy and using our Supportland account to find the true-local among the faux-local. With big-box technology in the hands of the little guys, anything is possible," the Supportland website says.

"So, the goal is a huge network that really rock the economy," Scotto di Carlo said.

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