Buy Local Campaigns

Perhaps we’re not doomed to an economy controlled by a few giant corporations after all.

A growing number of signs suggest that local, independent businesses might just be making a comeback. 

Number of new independent bookstores that have opened since 2005...

Increase since 2002 in the number of small specialty food stores...  More

For the fourth year in a row, a national survey of independent businesses has found that those in communities with an active "buy local" campaign have experienced markedly stronger revenue growth compared to those located in areas without such a campaign. The survey, which was conducted over an 8-day period in January, gathered data from 2,768 independent businesses, including retailers, service providers, restaurants and others.  It found that those in places with a "buy local" initiative reported revenue growth of 5.6% on average in 2010, compared to 2.1% for those elsewhere. 

A large majority of respondents said that public awareness of the benefits of supporting locally owned businesses had increased in the last year, and business owners who are involved in "buy local" campaigns reported a wide range of benefits to their business, including greater customer loyalty and more awareness among city officials.

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A groundbreaking new study, the Indie City Index, ranks all 363 metropolitan areas in the U. S. according to the vitality of their independent retail sectors.

Produced by Civic Economics, the index analyzes the share of retail sales captured by independent retailers and assigns a score to each metro. In regions that score above 100, independent retailers capture a larger than average share of spending, while chains are more dominant in those metros that score less than 100. More

Is your community organization or local business alliance thinking about launching a public education campaign to encourage people to move their accounts to locally owned banks and credit unions?  

We have a range of resources to assist you, including help with definitions and identifying local banks, sample flyers, graphs and background articles, examples of local banking campaign materials from around the country, and more.  More

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (Jan. 14, 2010) - 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%. That contrasts with the Commerce Department figures released today, which show that overall retail sales were down 0.3% in December and up 1.8% in November.

The survey also found that independent retailers in cities with active "Buy Local" or "Think Local First" campaigns reported stronger holiday sales than those in cities without such campaigns. More

A survey of over 100 independent retailers in New England has found that almost all  would like to source more of their inventory from local and regional producers, but there are barriers to doing so, including, most notably, a lack of an easy and efficient way for retailers to identify New England companies manufacturing the kinds of goods they carry. More

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many of New Orleans' locally owned businesses reopened within days of the floodwaters subsiding and played a pivotal role in drawing people back.  National chains, meanwhile, kept their distance.

But, despite their resilience and loyalty,  locally owned businesses have been largely ignored in the city's redevelopment plans. Instead, New Orleans has been lavishing massive public subsidies on big-box development.

Now a new study finds that the city's independent businesses are not only more resilient, but generate twice the economic impact of big-box retailers like Target, while consuming a fraction of the land. The Urban Conservancy, which commissioned the study and runs an initiative called Stay Local, hopes the new data will prompt the city to change its policies.
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In a public hearing room crowded with more than 100 people, including dozens of local business owners standing alongside environmentalists, affordable housing advocates, and labor leaders, the city council of Santa Rosa, California, soundly defeated a proposed Lowe's store on a 5-2 vote.

For a city facing a sizable budget shortfall, it was a remarkable decision. The conventional wisdom, especially in California's sales tax-dependent and financially strapped cities, is that big-box retailers are cash-cows and those cities that do not welcome them with open arms will be left behind in the regional competition for revenue.

But the Santa Rosa council rejected that argument and instead endorsed the position of the GoLocal Cooperative, a county-wide coalition of local businesses and residents working localize the region's economy.  More

Today, in the New York Times small business blog, Robb Mandelbaum examines the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), a group that, as we point out in his post, claims to represent independent businesses, but often lobbies for policies that benefit big business at the expense of small. 

Mandelbaum reports that the NFIB's membership has plummeted and takes a look at how the group has lobbied for tax loopholes that boost the profits of big chains like Wal-Mart by billions of dollars, while forcing independent businesses to pay more.    More