This July 4th, AMIBA Wants Americans to Celebrate Their Independents

This Fourth of July, the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) would like consumers to celebrate America's independence in what might be a revolutionary way for some: by celebrating their local independents. For the week of July 1 - July 7, AMIBA -- a national outreach, networking hub, and resource center for independent business alliances (IBAs) and independent businesses -- has planned a weeklong, national promotion to educate the public on the importance of shopping at their local, independent businesses. At present, 15 IBAs around the country will be participating in "Independents Week."

"What we hope to gain, at the local and national level, is raised awareness," said Jennifer Rockne, director of AMIBA. "Lots of people don't differentiate [between independents and chains] -- we want them to differentiate. We want consumers to make informed choices about where they spend their money."

Independents Week was first developed almost three years ago in Tampa, Florida, by the owners of the independent Inkwood Books, when the store placed that month's Book Sense 76 titles on sale for the July 4th week. The response to the sales event was so strong that, by 2003, about 20 local businesses were participating in the Tampa promotion, which urged community members to "celebrate our nation's independence [by] celebrating your independents -- for all your shopping, dining, and entertainment needs." A couple of months after the 2003 event, those 20 businesses formed the Tampa Independent Business Alliance (TIBA) and became an AMIBA affiliate in January.

For the Tampa event, participating businesses were asked to prominently display a common poster, place a listing in the Inkwood Books newsletter at a cost of $20, and donate at least $60 in store gift certificates. Each store received gift certificates from a selection of other participants equal to the dollar amount it donated. Businesses held individual raffles for the certificates on July 8 and divided the total any way they wished -- with one grand-prize winner or several smaller ones. Last year's event garnered a great deal of media attention, with prominent stories in both Tampa papers; additionally, the local Fox affiliate had a popular announcer broadcast from a different participating business each day of Independents Week.

In June 2003, Inkwood Books co-owner Carla Jimenez told BTW that putting together an Independents Week is an "incredibly simple way to get some attention, without a well-funded, well-staffed organization."

After TIBA became an AMIBA affiliate, organizing a national Independents Week just seemed like the natural thing to do. "I loved the idea when I first heard about it," Rockne said, and added that the organization will even use Tampa's Independents Week graphic in its posters.

Though ideas are still being bandied about, Rockne said that each IBA will have options for doing different activities, and that AMIBA will help local affiliates get media attention. She added that she hopes that even IBAs not affiliated with AMIBA will hold Independents Weeks this Fourth of July.

In addition to Independents Week, AMIBA is also working to develop a national Unchained Day -- where IBAs will ask residents to forego chain shopping for a day -- based on the successful event organized by the Austin Independent Business Alliance and held last November. --David Grogan