IBAs Set to Celebrate Independents Week

From Saturday, July 1, through Friday, July 7, many communities around the country will participate in the third annual Independents Week celebration, an event created to educate the public about the importance of shopping at locally owned, independent businesses. The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), a national outreach networking hub and resource center for independent business alliances (IBAs) and independent businesses, organizes the event.

"This year, we've seen even more creative ideas for getting our collective message to the public and for engaging communities in connecting with independent businesses than before," said AMIBA Director Jennifer Rockne. "Participants in St. Louis can hop on their bikes for a six-mile group ride around downtown and some of the neighborhoods, popping in to visit some independent businesses along the route as part of BUILD St. Louis' Independents Week Festival.  Folks in Albuquerque will get an eyeful from the bus placards that will cruise the city (with funding help from the City), and they can join with members of the Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance for a night at the Isotopes baseball game replete with fireworks.  Citizens in many communities will be treated to live local music and vie for some amazing prizes donated by local businesses in drawings and games -- one prize in Tampa is a $1,000 shopping spree at a local natural foods market.  And at least two IBAs are using Independents Week as their formal unveiling."

One new alliance, the Greenville Independent Business Alliance (GIBA), which officially launched only three months ago in Greenville, South Carolina, will be an enthusiastic participant in this year's event. The alliance will be holding a weeklong "Indie Challenge," inviting residents to collect as many receipts as they can from independent businesses for the chance to win prizes.

Independents Week will be the first promotion for GIBA, which was founded by Horizon Records owner Gene Berger, who was quick to point out to BTW that his alliance is modeled after the Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA).

The idea to form an alliance occurred to Berger soon after he joined members of Greenville's Chamber of Commerce on a trip to Austin for one of the chambers regularly scheduled "visit and learn" events -- where the chamber holds panels and seminars in various towns and cities "to see what is working in different communities," Berger explained. "This one [in Austin] was about what makes a community unique, and how to brand a community."

In Austin, Berger met AIBA founders Steve Bercu of BookPeople and Waterloo Records' John Kunz, who were panelists at a session he attended. When he returned to Greenville, he decided it was time to start an IBA. "I needed another side project like I needed a hole in the head," Berger said. "But I felt like it was time because of the groundswell of people I talked to."

And at around that time, a friend of Berger's, who owned a local dress shop, decided to close due to competition from national chains in Greenville. When a reporter called him for a comment regarding the closure, he started discussing the importance of supporting independents as opposed to chains. "I realized this is it, this is the catalyst [for GIBA]."

Duff Bruce of The Open Book, who was among the first to join GIBA, concurred that the time was ripe for local downtown businesses to band together. "We had reached a point where we had a lot of [businesses] opening [away from the downtown area]," he explained. "There's a new shopping center, a strip mall. There's a new Barnes & Noble out there, which opened two months ago, and a Whole Foods." Now there are now two Barnes & Nobles in Greenville, he said, and while the new one is "closer to the other Barnes & Nobles than me, I'm still feeling it."

Compounding matters, Circuit City moved from its downtown locale to the new strip mall. "This will have an impact on downtown," he stated. "There's a couple of health food operations who have never faced anything like Whole Foods -- and they were very anxious to participate."

Thus far, Bruce said that the alliance, which presently has about 25 members, has made good progress. "We've received press coverage, and we've been pretty successful in adding to the number of businesses that have become members." Importantly, by creating an alliance, the local businesses in Greenville have called the community's attention to the value of shopping locally. "I feel like we've raised the level of awareness," he said.

GIBA's "Indie Challenge" will also help educate the community on what impact their buying decisions have on their own towns. Alicia Brooks of Garners Natural Market & Cafe, who serves as GIBA's secretary, said that they decided to hold the challenge because "it's something to do to involve the whole community."

For the week, residents will be asked to collect as many receipts from locally owned businesses as they can for the chance to win prizes. On July 8, GIBA will host an awards celebration at an outside pavilion in downtown Greenville and will award prizes donated by local businesses to the top receipt holders. "We will have a few member [information] booths and some very talented local musicians who will play [at the ceremony]," Brooks reported.

GIBA will be one of many IBAs and local business around the country that will be celebrating Independents Week -- engaging citizens in activities such as musical events, public education, picnics, in-store promotions and activities, prize drawings, and more.

AMIBA invites individual businesses and other organizations to join the July celebration. The organization provides templates and "how-to" information for activities, buttons, posters, press releases, and a scavenger hunt game board. Participants are free to pick and choose among the ideas for what they want to do in their communities -- or they can create their own ideas.

AMIBA affiliation is not required to participate. For more information about the celebration and about forming an independent business alliance, contact AMIBA at (406) 582-1255 or visit www.AMIBA.net. --David Grogan