Panel of Experts to Reveal 'Local First' Data at the Winter Institute

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Booksellers looking to create or bolster consumer awareness of the importance of shopping locally will find much to help their cause at the panel "How to Create an Independent Business Alliance in Your Community" at this year's Winter Institute.

"We've done a lot over the past few years on Local First issues," noted the panel's moderator, ABA COO Oren Teicher, "but we believe this session will provide additional concrete ammunition that booksellers will be able to use to demonstrate to their communities why shopping and supporting independent business is so important."

Panelists are David Nimkin, former executive director of the Utah Small Business Development Center and cofounder and vice president of Local First Utah, a nonprofit organization that promotes consumer education and supports locally owned, independent businesses; and Dan Houston and Matt Cunningham of Civic Economics, a leader in the field of progressive economic development that conducted the reports "Economic Impact Analysis -- A Case Study: Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers" and "The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics."

Houston and Cunningham will be releasing new data based on work just completed on behalf of the San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Alliance, which will once again demonstrate that a diverse retail base is good for the local economy. In addition, a brief video will be shown about one of the most successful Local First initiatives in the country, Sustainable Connections in Bellingham, Washington.

"How to Create an Independent Business Alliance in Your Community" will be held on Friday, February 2, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Doubletree Portland-Lloyd Center's Mount St. Helens Room.