Recommended Readings
SIBA supports independent bookstores, and you can, too, by shopping online at BookSense.com. BookSense.com connects you to the nearest independent bookseller by zip code. If you can't visit your nearest locally-owned store in person you can still support your hometown bookstore online!
Books
The Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
by Stacy Mitchell (2006)
Illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of society's most pressing problems, how government policy has helped them, and successful strategies communities are employing to reverse this trend and rely on themselves for their own well being. Includes important study references documenting big-box impacts. $24.95 hardcover.
The Home Town Advantage
by Stacy Mitchell (2000)
Explores the impacts of chain stores vs. community businesses and strategies used by communities to promote independent locally owned business. Includes successful, legally-defensible policy examples from many communities. Highly recommended for those looking for extensive factual information and examples.
Going Local
by Michael Shuman (1998)
Examines community programs for self-reliance and economic strength in a global age and includes a tremendous resource directory.
The Case Against the Global Economy -- and For a Turn Toward the Local
by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith eds. (1996)
This collection of essays from around the world describes campaigns to promote local economic strength and stability as well as analyzing larger issues in the global economy and corporatization.
Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart
by Al Norman (1999)
Though the book is geared toward individual struggles to stop single unwanted big box stores, there's good, broadly applicable organizing information as well.
Better, Not Bigger
by Eben Fodor (1999)
Demonstrates often overlooked economic costs of growth and sprawl while promoting human-scale development.
The Economic Renewal Guide
by Michael Kinsley (1997)
Introduces the Rocky Mountain Institute's Economic Renewal Program -plans for building prosperity by thinking outside the conventional development paradigm.
Changing Places - Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl
by Richard Moe and Carter Wilkie (1997)
Includes a good listing of relevant local and regional groups to contact.
Home from Nowhere
by James Kunstler (1996)
The more solution-oriented sequel to the widely acclaimed Geography of Nowhere.
Up Against the Wal-Marts - How Your Business Can Prosper in the Shadow of the Giants
by Don Taylor and Jeanne Smalling Archer (1994)
An outstanding resource for business owners in all fields. Contains a wealth of strategies and tactics to help independent businesses compete successfully with the chains.
Making a Place for Community
by Williamson, Imbroscio & Alperovitz (2002)
A far-reaching and extensively researched exploration of politics, economics and strategies for localization that excels at linking economic democracy to political democracy.
Studies and Reports - Economic Impact of Local Independent Business
San Francisco Retail Diversity Study
This three-part study, released in May 2007, calculates the market share of independents and chains in several categories: book, sporting goods, and toy stores, and casual dining restaurants. The study's second section analyzes the impact on San Francisco's economy of shopping at locally owned businesses versus chains. The final — and perhaps most important — part examines the impact on the city's economy of a mere 10% shift in resident spending between chains and local businesses and vice versa, quantified in terms of added revenue and jobs to the community. While the numbers are specific to the San Francisco area, a reasonable "translation" can be inferred.
Andersonville Study of Retail Economics
Civic Economics
This report, released on October 20, 2004, extends the study done in Austin, Texas in 2003. The study compares 10 independent businesses and 10 chains in retail, restaurant and service sectors. The results further corroborate the local economic benefit of independent businesses, demonstrating that independents generate about 3 times the local economic activity as chains. Further, the researchers make the case for community governments to create policy to protect their independent businesses.
The Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses vs. Chains: A Case Study in Midcoast Maine
by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Friends of Midcoast Maine, September 2003.
Findings of this study indicate that three times as much money stays in the local economy when you buy goods and services from locally owned businesses as with chains. This study tracked the revenue and expenditures of eight locally owned businesses in Midcoast Maine.
Fiscal impact analysis in Barnstable, Massachusetts
prepared by Tischler & Associates, Inc. (2002)
The analysis compares the tax revenue generated by different kinds of residential and commercial development with the actual cost of providing public services for each land use. Revenue gainers: community-based businesses; revenue losers: big boxes, fast food chains and strip malls.
10 Reasons Why Vermont's Homegrown Economy Matters: And 50 Proven Ways to Revive It
by Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (2003)
The manual is the result of two years of collaborative research by Stacy Mitchell of the New Rules Project and the Preservation Trust of Vermont on specific reasons why locally owned businesses matter and practical ways to plan for a homegrown economy, foster revitalization and unite independent businesses--no matter where you live.
Click to view 10 reasons and 50 ways to revive your local economy
The Return of the "Local"
by Stacy Mitchell
Some 400 new independent bookstores have opened in the last four years. Neighborhood hardware stores are making a comeback in some cities. Driving is down in U.S. over the last two years, while data from a dozen metropolitan regions show that houses located within walking distance of local businesses have held value better than those isolated in the suburbs, where the nearest gallon of milk is a five-mile drive to a superstore.
In city after city, independent businesses are organizing and building an increasingly powerful counterweight to the big business lobby on issues as varied as tax policy and global warming. Local business alliances have now formed in over 130 cities and collectively count some 30,000 businesses as members. These alliances are calling on people to choose independent businesses and locally produced goods more often, making a compelling case that doing so is critical to rebuilding middle-class prosperity, averting environmental catastrophe, and ensuring that our daily lives are not smothered by corporate uniformity."
In response to these trends, Mitchell notes, international corporations are trying to "rebrand" themselves as "local" too.
The Impact of an Urban Wal-Mart Store on Area Businesses: An Evaluation of One Chicago Neighborhood’s Experience
Center for Urban Research and Learning Loyola University Chicago.
Having achieved nearly complete coverage of non-urban and suburban markets,
mega-retailer Wal-Mart has turned its attention to urban expansion. Evaluations of Wal-
Mart’s impact on urban retail businesses and local employment are necessary to inform
policy makers, scholars, and community activists looking to improve economic
opportunities for inner-city residents. This study focuses on the Wal-Mart store that
opened on the West Side of Chicago in September 2006.
Local Works: Examining the Impact of Local Business on the West Michigan Economy
Civic Economics
This 2008 study demonstrates the major economic impact of even a 10% shift in total per capita spending from chains to locally owned independent businesses -- creation of almost $140 million in new economic activity and 1,600 new jobs for the region. The included examination of the economic impact of independent and chain businesses per-square-foot points to independent businesses as the recommended tenants for available commercial properties.
The San Francisco Retail Diversity Study
SFLOMA & Civic Economics
This three-part study, released in May 2007, calculates the market share of independents and chains in several categories: book, sporting goods, and toy stores, and casual dining restaurants. The study's second section analyzes the impact on San Francisco's economy of shopping at locally owned businesses versus chains. The final -- and perhaps most important -- part examines the impact on the city's economy of a mere 10% shift in resident spending between chains and local businesses and vice versa, quantified in terms of added revenue and jobs to the community. While the numbers are specific to the San Francisco area, a reasonable "translation" can be inferred.
