In Austin, Texas, opponents of large chain store development earned a hard-fought victory when the city council approved an ordinance aimed at limiting big-box development. However, for one neighborhood group, the new ordinance will have little or no effect on a development featuring a 217,000-square-foot Wal-Mart.
On February 15, Austin's city council unanimously approved by a vote of 6 - 0 an ordinance that subjects to a public hearing and city council review any proposed retail development over 100,000 square feet.
The Austin (Texas) Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) recently launched an online database of commercial properties whose owners or developers are seeking community-based businesses to fill vacant retail spaces. The database, the newest phase of AIBA's program Connecting & Linking Independents With Commercial Development (CLIC), helps locally owned businesses identify available properties in which to open or expand.
According to the results of a holiday shopping survey conducted by the Portland (Maine) Independent Business and Community Alliance (PIBCA) -- a nonprofit, volunteer group -- its "Portland Buy Local" campaign is influencing residents to shop locally.
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.
For the past several years, a growing number of local merchants, residents, and independent business alliances have influenced the manner in which their towns are developed by enacting or amending zoning laws to include retail size caps or formula business restrictions.
Over the past few years, a number of economic studies -- including two conducted by Civic Economics, a leader in the field of progressive economic development -- have consistently calculated that locally owned businesses contribute more than three times as much economic value to a community than do chain retailers.
On Saturday, November 18, over 60 communities around the country celebrated America Unchained, the third annual event sponsored by the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA). America Unchained urges communities to "unchain themselves" and to shop at local independent businesses for the day as a way to educate consumers about the economic value of locally owned businesses.
Election Day 2006 proved to be disappointing for two booksellers who were supporting measures to keep big box stores out of their respective communities. In both cases, the votes went in favor of corporate retail by a narrow margin.
In Davis, California, a measure that will allow a Target to open in the community passed by a three percent margin, according to the Sacramento Bee; and in Ravalli County, a proposition to repeal an emergency ordinance that placed a 60,000-square-foot size cap on new retail development also lost by a slim margin.
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The Austin (Texas) Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) recently launched an online database of commercial properties whose owners or developers are seeking community-based businesses to fill vacant retail spaces. The database, the newest phase of AIBA's program Connecting & Linking Independents With Commercial Development (CLIC), helps locally owned businesses identify available properties in which to open or expand. 
Over the past few years, a number of economic studies -- including two conducted by 
On Saturday, November 18, over 60 communities around the country celebrated America Unchained, the third annual event sponsored by the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA). America Unchained urges communities to "unchain themselves" and to shop at local independent businesses for the day as a way to educate consumers about the economic value of locally owned businesses.