Main Street/Shop Local

25 Oct

Page & Palette Owner Seeks to Ensure Viability of Main Street

Fairhope, Alabama, a city of approximately 12,000 residents, which prides itself on "the storybook charm of its shops and flowers," is in the midst of a battle to keep big box retailers, including Wal-Mart, out of its surrounding area. Among the group of concerned citizens who organized as "A Fair Hope of Success" to ensure the continued viability of Fairhope's downtown businesses is bookseller Karin Wilson of Fairhope's Page & Palette bookstore.

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20 Oct

ABA Joins Lawsuit Against Visa and MasterCard

The American Booksellers Association recently joined the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, National Association of Convenience Stores, National Community Pharmacists Association, and the National Cooperative Grocers Association as a plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut. The suit alleges that Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc., as well as major banks and credit-card companies, colluded to fix interchange fees.

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10 Oct

The Vision Has Not Dimmed

Gayle Shanks on the Importance of Independent Retailers

Changing Hands Book Store in Tempe, Arizona, was recently honored by the Center for the Advancement of Small Business at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University with a 2005 Spirit of Enterprise Award, recognizing ethics and excellence in entrepreneurship. In accepting the award on behalf of the entire store, co-owner Gayle Shanks spoke eloquently about why "independent, local ownership is the essence of our unique American experience."

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22 Sep

Wal-Mart Watch Has 'Higher Expectations'

Wal-Mart Watch (WMW), which bills itself as the nation's premier Wal-Mart reform online presence, recently announced the launch of "Higher Expectations Week: A National Week of Action," an initiative to be held from November 13 to November 19, 2005. The week kicks off a nationwide WMW campaign to make Wal-Mart "a more responsible corporate citizen all year-round."

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15 Sep

San Francisco Merchants Form Local Business Alliance

San Francisco is in transition, said Neal Sofman, owner of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books.

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14 Sep

Unchaining America on November 19

AMIBA Invites All Independent Retailers and Business Alliances to Participate

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08 Sep

SEBA/ABA Panel to Focus on Main Street Retailer Issues

On Friday, September 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., those attending the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) Fall Trade Show can learn more about the challenges and opportunities common to all independent Main Street businesses.

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21 Jul

Becoming a Leader of the Pack

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13 Jul

Emporia Main Street Means Better Business for Kansas Town

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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13 Jul

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.

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21 Jun

AMIBA's Independents Week to Start July 1

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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05 May

Warwick Bookstore Spearheads Independent Business Alliance

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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11 Apr

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.

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16 Mar

San Francisco State University Bookstore to Promote Value of Independents

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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02 Mar

Breaking St. Paul Independents Out of Chains

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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