Main Street/Shop Local

The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association is encouraging ABA members to help promote the inaugural celebration of Neighborhood Toy Store Day, set for November 13.

Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher with the New Rules Project and author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses, looks at grassroots financing of local businesses, including Brooklyn's Greenlight Bookstore, Oakland's  Awaken Café, and Hardwick, Vermont's Claire's Restaurant.

An interesting media meme has emerged in the last month: that there are unique opportunities for indie booksellers in a society of hyper-connectivity and technological saturation.

Independent booksellers around the country celebrated the ninth annual Independents Week with sales and discounts, especially for customers who were willing to show their support for independent businesses on their shirts, bags, and receipts.

New "buy local" recycled shopping bags from Ellerkamp; BA elects indie bookstore owner as president; Banks step up opposition to swipe-fee reform; AAP reports book sales for April

Bookstores looking to join this year's Independents Week celebrations (July 1-7) have access to an abundance of freely available resources from the American Independent Business Alliance and ABA's Bookseller DIY.

A recent national survey indicating that more shoppers deliberately sought out locally owned businesses during the 2009 holiday season has drawn media coverage ranging from Florida to California.

More holiday shoppers deliberately sought out locally owned businesses this year, according to a national survey of more than 1,800 independent businesses.

The survey found that holiday sales for independent retailers were up an average of 2.2 percent. That contrasts with the Commerce Department figures released today, which show that overall retail sales were down 0.3 percent in December and up 1.8 percent in November.

The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) has a free holiday gift for local communities -- new outreach tools aimed at ramping up "Buy Indie/Buy Local" campaigns for the holidays -- or anytime. Among the offerings are a bag stuffer template and two posters/fliers spreading the pro-independent message.

Last week, the Obama Administration announced plans for a "White House to Main Street" tour that will take the president to cities and towns across the country over the next few months to speak with workers and share ideas for the nation's continued economic recovery. President Obama sees the tour as an opportunity to "take the temperature on what Americans are experiencing during these challenging economic times," according to a White House press release.

The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) is urging consumers in communities across the country to "unchain themselves" and to shop at local independent businesses on Saturday, November 21, the sixth annual celebration of America Unchained! Day.

ABA's popular list of notable Local First titles has received a makeover. Updated for 2009, the Indie Local First Reading List has a new design, new titles, new indie bookseller recommendations, and links to local first resources.

Tom Campbell and friends of The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina, have created a campy, fun 1940s newsreel-style video with a serious message: Shopping local is green. The spot, "Just Around the Corner," uses archival and newly shot video to dramatize how a book shipped from an Internet retailer rather than bought at a local bookstore ups the carbon load in the environment significantly.

In the coming weeks, the American Booksellers Association and IndieBound will be updating the selected reading list of local first titles, a compilation of informative titles on the importance of building and strengthening a vibrant local economy.

"This year, the buzz around Independents Week preparation and celebration has been palpable," said Jennifer Rockne, director of the American Independent Business Alliance, the event's sponsor.