Tampa Businesses Declare Their Independents

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Though the Tampa Independent Business Alliance (TIBA) is just over four months old, the seed for its creation was planted, rather aptly, during Independence Day week 2002. That's when the owners of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida, decided to put all of the month's Book Sense 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 idea was so successful that, during the same week the following year, 20 local independent businesses joined Inkwood to help celebrate what became "Independents Week."

Ultimately, the success of the promotion prompted those 20 businesses to form TIBA. "After the second year, we said let's really do it," said Inkwood co-owner Carla Jimenez. "What more do we want to do?"

The 20 founding members of TIBA began to meet in August 2003 and last month joined the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) -- a national outreach, networking hub, and resource center for independent business alliances and independent businesses -- as an affiliate. Today, TIBA has approximately 50 members.

TIBA's first public meeting, which was an informational one for the public and local politicians, was Thursday, February 19, 2004, Jimenez reported. The meeting was very positive. "I'm passionate about this, and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of enthusiasm," she said. And already, at least one city council member, who attended last Thursday's meeting, has told TIBA that she strongly supports the group's efforts.

"Our mission is the same as other [independent business alliances] -- consciousness raising of customers and local officials," Jimenez told BTW, and noted that she wants TIBA to educate residents on the value of locally owned business to the economy, the culture, and health of the Tampa landscape.

"In terms of what got us here -- each [TIBA member] ... saw what happened in the '90s [with the onslaught of chains into communities]," Jimenez continued. She said that, unlike some other IBAs that have successfully fought to keep chains out of their communities (such as the Austin Independent Business Alliance in Texas), in Tampa, "the chainstores already came in. We're in a city where it's too late. We missed the boat on keeping the chains out. So they're here -- now what?"

Part of the answer, TIBA members believe, is to simply emphasize those "attributes of independent business that are positive," Jimenez said. "What makes it easier for us to do that is the Austin [Independent Business Alliance] study."

The study, "Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study, Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers," which was commissioned by Liveable City, a local Austin, Texas, nonprofit group; the Austin Independent Business Alliance; and Austin independent businesses BookPeople and Waterloo Records, indicated that for every $100 in consumer spending at Borders, the total local economic impact (LEI) is only $13. Conversely, the same amount spent at BookPeople, for example, yields $45 in LEI, more than three times as much. (To read the Austin study, click here.)

Said Jimenez, "Now we can just point to [the study] and give facts and figures."

This year, TIBA plans to have another Independents Week, and "it looks like we'll have an outdoor concert as a fundraiser sometime in June," Jimenez said, though she stressed the alliance is still in its preliminary stages. "Right now there's no Board of Directors, no bylaws … no address, no Web site -- there's still a lot of work to do!" she said. --David Grogan