Alliances Band Together to Encourage Consumers to “Shift Your Shopping”

This holiday season, the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), Institute for Local Self Reliance, New England Local Business Forum, and several other partners are joining forces for the first time to promote the new campaign “Shift Your Shopping.”

The recently launched collaboration aims to combine the energy and excitement shared by more than 140 communities that – through existing independent business and local first alliances – are already working toward a common goal: strengthening local economies, expanding employment, and nurturing a sense of community. This campaign is asking consumers to consider the impact of their spending throughout the holiday shopping season.

“We have choices. We have economic power. Each of us can exercise that to the best of our ability because we all have to buy stuff, and we all have to buy it from someone,” said Karen Marzloff, the director of Seacoast Local, an affiliate of BALLE.

“Although we represent a huge diversity of communities and we all do different things in our own towns, there is one common vision we share, and we’ve seen lots of successes,” said Marzloff, who had a hand in bringing the campaign to the national level from New England.

Several independent booksellers have already committed to promoting the Shift Your Shopping campaign. “This movement gained ground so quickly because booksellers were already out there talking about this, first individually and then together through IndieBound,” said Marzloff. “Booksellers got it first, how important it was to talk with their customers about the value of keeping their money where they live.”

Carla Jimenez, co-owner of Inkwood Books, in Tampa, Florida, is enthusiastically spreading the word to other local businesses, and the Tampa Independent Business Alliance (TIBA), of which she serves on the Board, has adopted the message as well.

“We think this unprecedented cooperative national campaign bringing together AMIBA and BALLE and others is a terrific idea,” said Jimenez. “It’s important to raise consciousness for our culture, landscape, and economy, and it’s something that can’t be said enough. It needs more than one day a year, and Shift Your Shopping is a message that can be used throughout the year. Even though it’s a holiday campaign, we’re hoping it has some legs.”

Jimenez, along with TIBA, is promoting the campaign through their websites and Facebook pages, and will be using the SYS logo wherever possible.

“We’ve adopted this campaign, and we’re going with it,” Jimenez said. “I’m really hoping that other booksellers will take advantage of this really easy way to get the word out. We think it’s completely consistent with the IndieBound message.”

“Everyone can start somewhere, and every purchase counts,” said Marzloff. “Numerous studies underpin our work and support the fact that spending our dollars at local independents generates two to three times as much economic activity as spending it at non-locally owned businesses. What a beautiful idea that by doing something nice for someone we love, we can also do something even bigger that helps everyone. We think shopping local is the key to rebuilding our economies and preserving our unique communities.”

Marzloff is encouraging booksellers to get their independent business alliance on board to help promote the campaign within their own communities. To get the conversation started, “like” the Shift Your Shopping Facebook Page, tweet about the campaign with the hashtag #shiftyourshopping, and share the SYS logo with your friends and customers.