Main Street/Shop Local

08 Oct

Maine Study Finds Locally Owned Businesses Better for Local Economy

According to a recent study conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), a national nonprofit organization providing policy solutions for building strong local economies and sustainable communities, and Friends of Midcoast Maine, a regional grassroots organization supporting smart growth, three times as much money stays in the local economy when consumers buy goods and services from locally owned businesses compared to chain stores.

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30 Jul

Fighting For Their Independents: The American Independent Business Alliance

Jeff Milchen and Jennifer Rockne want to change community culture on a national level, one town at a time. Milchen and Rockne aspire to help local businesses band together and to educate communities on the value of supporting local, independent businesses. That's why, in August of 2001, they founded the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA).

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10 Jul

An Independent Alliance Grows in Corvallis

In 2001, after hearing that a Borders Books & Music would be moving to Corvallis, Oregon, Jack Wolcott, co-owner of Grass Roots Books & Music, and Bob Baird, owner of The Book Bin, asked the founders of the Boulder Independent Business Alliance (BIBA), Jeff Milchen and Jennifer Rockne (more recently, the founders of the American Independent Business Alliance) to host a Town Hall Meeting regarding the impact of local businesses versus chains.

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19 Jun

Back by Populist Demand -- Celebration of Independents Week Unites Local Businesses and the Community

Two years ago, inspired by the Book Sense 76, the owners of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida, put all of the month's 76 titles on sale during the week of July 4 to celebrate the Independence Day holiday and to bring attention to their store as an independent business.

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12 Jun

My Home Town: An Author's Take on the Coming of a Chain

The following column by Amy Stewart, author of The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms, forthcoming from Algonquin Books (January 2004), originally appeared in the May 8 edition of Humboldt County, California's North Coast Journal.

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11 Jun

Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses

On Saturday, May 31, at BookExpo America in Los Angeles, the session "Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses" attracted a large crowd of independent booksellers who came to hear about a recent study that documented how local retailers contribute more to the local economy than do national retailers. The panel featured Steve Bercu, CEO of BookPeople in Austin, Texas, and Dan Houston of Civic Economics, who discussed the report "Economic Impact Analysis -- A Case Study: Local Merchants vs.

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08 May

* * * Countdown to Book Expo * * * Economic Impact Analysis Takes Center Stage at ABA Panel Discussion

On Saturday, May 31, from 10:30 to noon at BookExpo America, the panel "Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses" will give attendees the opportunity to see firsthand the results of a study showing the economic impact of chains versus local, independent retailers.

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07 May

Helping Maintain Austin's Independence: BTW Talks with BookPeople's Steve Bercu

Steve Bercu, owner of BookPeople in Austin, Texas

Last summer, Steve Bercu, the owner of the independent bookstore BookPeople, joined with Waterloo Records, the Austin Independent Business Alliance, and Liveable City, a local, nonprofit community organization, in a campaign to keep

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01 May

Think Globally, Shop Locally: Santa Fe Independent Businesses Band Together

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, independents are putting into practice the adage "There's power in numbers." Local independent retailers, community organizations, and businesses have joined together to form the Santa Fe Independent Business Community Alliance (SFIBCA) -- a nonprofit coalition that aims to improve the local economy by driving consumers to local, independent retailers.

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24 Apr

Borders Pulls Out of Austin Development

On April 23, Borders Books & Music announced that it was pulling out of a proposed Austin, Texas, development situated across the street from two independent retailers, BookPeople and Waterloo Records. The bookstore chain's plans to open a store at Sixth and Lamar in downtown Austin had stirred up strong opposition. Liveable City, a local, nonprofit community organization, commissioned an economic study indicating that local merchants contribute significantly more money to the local economy than do retail chains.

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14 Feb

Additional Resources on Main Street Alliances

Here are additional resources on supporting locally owned businesses.

The New Rules Project -- Promoting rules and policies that foster strong, self-conscious and self-determining communities.

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30 Jan

Study Detailing the Significant Contribution of Main Street Retailers to Local Economies Now Available to Independent Booksellers

In our ongoing coverage of the public debate regarding the retail makeup of a proposed government-subsidized development in Austin, Texas, BTW has cited an economic study commissioned by Liveable City and The Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA), local nonprofit groups. The study documents how local merchants contribute significantly more to the local economy than do retail chains.

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23 Jan

Austin Residents Won't Be Boxed In

On Tuesday, January 21, almost all of the approximately 200 Austin, Texas, city residents at a community forum gave a proposed development that would bring Borders Books & Music to downtown Austin a resounding thumbs down, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

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12 Dec

Study Reports Chains Contribute Less to Local Economy

On December 10, Austin-based Liveable City, a local nonprofit group, released an economic study claiming that local merchants contribute significantly more money to the local economy than do retail chains. Steve Bercu, owner of Austin's BookPeople, told BTW that the study proves what local retailers have known all along through anecdotal evidence. "We knew that chain stores impacted the local economy in a negative way," he said.

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12 Sep

Independent Bookstore Helps Revitalize Main Street

The river's end bookstore,

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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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