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This year, Emporia, Kansas -- the home of about 30,000 people, as well as the Town Crier Bookstore -- was the recipient of a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust Main Street Center.
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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.
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The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) -- a national outreach networking hub and resource center for independent business alliances (IBAs) and independent businesses -- has once again declared July 1 through July 7 Independents Week. The second annual national weeklong promotion serves to educate the public on the importance of shopping at local, independent businesses.
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The Village of Warwick, New York, may not look like the kind of town in urgent need of an independent business alliance: With a burgeoning population and tourist trade, and no chain store or mall near Main Street, the idyllic downtown looks to be the picture of economic health. However, a closer study of Warwick reveals a more foreboding picture. While the downtown may not host any big box stores or malls, the town is "encircled by them," said Michael McDermott of Warwick's The Bookstore.
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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.
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To help booksellers educate consumers about the benefits independent businesses bring to their communities, last December, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) created two posters featuring attention-getting talking points. One poster compared Amazon.com's contributions to California, in terms of taxes, donations, and employment, to that of independent booksellers.
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In what looks to be a growing, if not rather ironic, trend in many small towns around the country, a chain store has spurred the formation of yet another independent business alliance (IBA). It was a proposed development to be anchored by a Borders Books & Music that was a catalyst for the creation of the Austin, Texas, IBA; another Borders opening that inspired the creation of an IBA in Corvalis, Oregon; and, most recently, in St.
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About ABA
The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.
Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.
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