On November 15, the Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) will ask central Texas residents to celebrate their independence by foregoing chain-store shopping for one day in favor of local merchants. Local Austin businesses organized the event, Austin Unchained, in an effort to prove that even one day of shopping at locally owned businesses would have a significant economic impact on the city of Austin.
In many communities across America, the onslaught of corporate retailers and large chains is a pressing issue for local businesses trying to remain competitive. That's certainly the case in the Phoenix metro area (which includes Glendale, Scottsdale, and Tempe), where a coalition of local businesses is seeking to change the market landscape by educating consumers and local politicians about the economic value of supporting independent businesses.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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On November 15, the Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) will ask central Texas residents to celebrate their independence by foregoing chain-store shopping for one day in favor of local merchants. Local Austin businesses organized the event, Austin Unchained, in an effort to prove that even one day of shopping at locally owned businesses would have a significant economic impact on the city of Austin. 
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.
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.