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PITTSBORO, N.C. – A grassroots organization in a small Chatham County town is putting a new spin on an old idea in the hopes of energizing the town's economy.

The PLENTY Currency Cooperative believes a new currency it plans to unveil in a few weeks – and a local bank's willingness to distribute it – will encourage people to spend their money in Pittsboro.

And the attractive exchange rate for the new bills, called PLENTYs, won't hurt either.

"We're starting with an initial exchange rate of 90 cents per PLENTY, meaning you can go in with nine U.S. dollars and get 10 PLENTYs back, which is essentially a 10-percent-off coupon for shopping locally," B.J. Lawson, with the Plenty Currency Cooperative, said.

Local U.S. currencies date back to the Depression era. While the PLENTY's been around since 2002, the original version's odd denominations and lack of convertibility to Federal Reserve notes posed a problem.

"There was a genuine risk that if you sold a big sculpture or had a big fuel order, you could end up with a disproportionate number of the PLENTYs," Lyle Estill, with the cooperative, said. "Now that we can exchange them at Capital Bank, that fear goes away and I'm standing by to see every merchant in town happily accepting PLENTYs."

Chatham Marketplace has accepted the original PLENTYs since it opened its doors in 2006.

"This is the ultimate use of the Main Street currency," Mary Demare, with the Chatham Marketplace, said. "The ultimate iteration of how we can work with our neighbors and support local economy."

But merchants know the PLENTY's success will depend largely on the network of people willing to accept it.

"I'm hoping the more vendors that join in, the more we'll encourage the use of PLENTYs throughout the community," Angelina Koulizakis, of Angelina's Kitchen, said.

This is a first for Capital Bank, which said it wants to be a good neighbor and promote local business.

"Honoring this in the community and our people buying from the community back and forth, exchanging it, will help the local community and that's what it's all about," Cecil Walters, with the bank, said.

Lawson and others say there's excitement in the little town of 2,800, which may someday greet visitors with a sign reading, "Welcome to the Land of Plenty."