Celebrating Independents

Local retailers and independent business alliances across the country marked Independence Day 2005 with weeklong celebrations highlighting how independent businesses help make each community unique and vibrant. The second annual Independents Week, from Friday, July 1, through Thursday, July 7, went well, according to Jennifer Rockne, director of the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), a national outreach networking hub and resource center for independent business alliances (IBAs) and independent businesses. "It was really different from last year's," she explained, in part, because, many Independents Week celebrations "spawned on their own" at the local level. "We noticed bloggers picked up on it this year. And news through the blogging community travels far and wide."

Over the course of the week, celebrants engaged in community events and activities. Some local groups posed the "Indie Challenge" to city councilors and community members -- to shop only locally owned for the week -- as a contest. In Albuquerque, for example, the winner received a freezer filled with a year's supply of green chili.

"Most of our IBAs gained proclamations from their mayor or city council declaring Independents Week and recognizing the many ways local independent businesses contribute to the community," Rockne said. "Although proclamations are ceremonial, I think they help get our message across to governors that our hometown businesses need the state to pay attention."

One IBA that received a proclamation from its town is the Warwick Independence Business Alliance (WIBA), which launched on June 16 of this year. The proclamation was made at the Town of Warwick's board meeting on June 24 to celebrate and recognize the significant contribution made to the Warwick community by local, independent businesses. Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton presented the declaration to Michael McDermott, owner of The Bookstore and co-founder of WIBA. McDermott announced the board's declaration in a press release, which was picked up by Warwick's two weekly newspapers.

In Glastonbury, Connecticut, there is no independent business alliance, but the success of the town's Independents Week celebration might actually prompt local businesses there to create one, said Donna Wakeman of Books, Etc. "Participants said they were more than willing to do something similar in ... the near future," she said.

Twenty-three local retailers participated in Glastonbury's Independents Week event that asked community members to "Find Your Indie."

"We provided a game board and clues that evoked various businesses," Wakeman explained. "Our clue was 'a novel idea.'" Participants were asked to go to various retailers to collect game pieces and then submit the board for prizes. The promotion was advertised in the local newspaper a week prior to the event and in each participating store. The response was tremendous. "There were over 100 game boards submitted," said Wakeman.

"Now that we have two years of running Independents Week nationally, we'll look at ways to keep [participation growing and to attract media attention," said AMIBA's Rockne. "The media really like the local angle, so I suspect we will be working on further ways to help participants entice their local media into covering their activity."
Independents Week endorsers include the New Rules Project, American Specialty Toy Retail Association, American Booksellers Association, Association of Retail Travel Agents, Council of Independent Restaurants of America, National Main Streets Center, Virginia Main Streets Program, and numerous individual independent businesses. --David Grogan