New IBA Forms to Keep Louisville Weird

When Hawley-Cooke, Louisville, Kentucky's largest independent bookstore, was sold to Borders Books & Music on August 18, 2003, it sent a tremor through the town's retail community, a signal to perceptive local business owners that the commercial landscape could be shifting ... and not for the better. Less than a month after the Border's sale, John Timmons of ear X-tacy record store met with other "similarly concerned business owners" and in November, he quietly launched the "Keep Louisville Weird" campaign. A year-and-a-half later, the campaign has been so successful that it has spurred the creation of an independent business alliance (IBA).

"Over half of the participants in the Keep Louisville Weird (KLW) campaign met on March 2 for the first time and decided that we would like to organize in a formal way to capitalize on our collective strengths and purchasing power," said Leslie Stewart, project coorindator for KLW. "We opted to form a Louisville chapter of the American Independent Business Alliance, which will probably just be called the Louisville Independent Business Alliance, although that hasn't been decided yet."

According to a KLW press release, Timmons, "buoyed by economic impact research studies in Austin and Chicago," launched KLW as a public awareness campaign, based on the Keep Austin Weird promotion. "The Austin study ['Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study, Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers']confirms what local merchants have known all along," Timmons noted in the press release. "The economic impact of purchases made at independent, locally owned businesses is far greater than the economic impact of purchases made at national chain stores and franchises. A greater percentage of your shopping dollar actually stays in the community when you shop the independent, mom-and-pop retailer."

Timmons took an underground approach to promoting KLW -- a tact that was extremely effective in generating a groundswell of interest from both the media and residents. "The first [KLW] billboard went up in November 2003; it was followed by T-shirts, bus cards, and stickers, but we didn't release anything official regarding the campaign until almost a year later, so the message had a chance to spread organically while we decided what we actually wanted to do with it. By the time we finally issued a press release, the media couldn't wait to cover the story because everyone was asking what the slogan meant and where it originated."

By that time, of course, an informal coalition of businesses began forming around the campaign, one that now involves about 120 independent businesses. Stewart said she hopes that "at least half" of those businesses will be charter members of the alliance.

One business that has been participating in the KLW campaign is Carmichael's Bookstore. Carol Besse, co-owner of the bookstore, said that it actually benefited from the Hawley-Cooke sale, a good sign that many residents already appreciate their local, independent. "All of the people that were Hawley-Cooke customers came over to us," she said, explaining that it was because they preferred to shop at an independent bookstore, rather than a chain. And for Besse, that's a key message to get across to Louisville residents, "letting people know there is a difference ... and getting them to act on this belief."

Stewart noted the goal of the ongoing KWL campaign is to raise civic and consumer awareness of the economic impact of shopping at locally owned businesses and to encourage networking within the community of locally owned entrepreneurs.

The alliance also has plans to coordinate with the American Independent Business Alliance for its annual "Independence Week" promotion in July. "At that point we hope to announce the official incorporation of our local IBA and also to introduce some sort of loyalty program that will encourage and reward shoppers for their patronage of independent businesses -- probably a card or coupon book, something of that nature," Stewart reported.

The alliance also "wants to create a directory of locally owned, independent businesses -- hopefully a searchable online directory that's easily accessed by consumers and other businesses alike," Stewart noted. She added that the alliance has already caught the ear of metro Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson and also the Greater Louisville Inc. chamber of commerce. "Greater Louisville has actually offered to help us with the online directory, as they have seven or eight similar directories already on their database system," she said.

For more information, go to www.keeplouisvilleweird.com. -- David Grogan