You can't hijack the meaning of a word!

I Love Jim Hightower.

No Big Box in Our Town!

Two weeks ago...the city council in Santa Rosa, California, soundly defeated a proposed Lowe's store on a 5-2 vote.
- New Rules Project, Stacy Mitchell Sept. 16, 2009

Despite Lowe's attempts to convince the city council and citizens of the benefits of a store in the area, "local business owners...argued that Lowe's would not bring in new money, but only siphon revenue away from existing businesses, eliminating jobs and shifting wealth out of the community."

I have to say, esp. having visited Santa Rosa recently I am really glad they had the knowledge and ability to stand up for their community. Those smaller communities in Northern California are so unique and special with a home town feeling that I would hate to see disappear.
Having heard the mayor of a nearby town at the BALLE conference speak, I have to say I am not all that surprised. She was very concerned with the preservation of the mom and pop 'industry' in her community and seemed to have a lot of backing from her constituents as well as cooperation from neighboring towns.

I wish we had that level of civic pride and consensus in Tucson. But, we are a lot bigger and have had other challenges during our growth.
The Tucson business community certainly has taken to the Local First movement. In fact, one of the early Tucson supporters of Local First AZ was musing to me recently that he can't hardly believe the Tucson chapter is up to nearly 180 members from just 4 not even two years ago!
My hope for Tucson is that the independent business community gains strength in the next few years. I'd like to see enough options for conscientious consumers that they don't automatically run to a big box store or the mall for the things they need.
Keep up the good work, Tucson indie business community. And, thanks, Tucsonans for supporting the great and growing local business community.
Maybe next time a big box wants to move into town we will have what it takes to just say no.

In Tucson Indie Retailers Aren't So Obscure

Indeed, Amazon has been gobbling e-commerce market share since 2006, taking away customers from eBay in particular. But its advances are shaking up the entire retail world. Giants like Wal-Mart are warily replicating elements of its strategy, while small independent retailers in sporting goods and jewelry now worry their fate will be similar to that of small bookstores and independent video rental shops (remember those?). -New York Times article

Small independent retailers in sporting goods and jewelry in Tucson are not worried about their fates. Perri Jewelers, McGuire's and Marshall's know full well that they offer the consumer a more complete, not to mention personal, experience with free jewelry cleanings and inspection as well as full service repair shops in addition to a wide selection of live goods.
Summit Hut is a favorite place for all manner of outdoors men (and ladies, of course) supplying climbers, esp. with gear for the world class mountain climbing in our area. They carry shoes and tents, hats, backpacks and water bottles and on and on.
Remember small bookstores and independent video rental shops?! We have the BEST independent video rental shop this side of the Mississippi. Casa Video has an excellent selection of indie films as well as the latest hits, foreign films and television shows. And their prices beat any big box video store. Plus, the staff is knowledgeable and helpful.
Then there are the indie bookstores! OMG, three of them got Best Of in Tucson Weekly's latest customer survey. Antigone Books, Bookmans and Mostly Books are only a few of the awesome indie booksellers here. Revolutionary Grounds is a new one. The Book Stop is a great established shop where one can find rare and out-of-print books.
Then there are indie record stores such as Toxic Ranch and Zia. Basically, Tucson has a great indie scene whether you need your diamond ring repaired or a foreign film to rent or outdoor gear or toys or yarn or an art house film or a Chicago-style hot dog or green building materials or . . .
I wanted to write this in response to the NY Times article. The writer made sweeping generalizations that may be true in a statistical sense, but at least here we have a community supporting very good independent businesses. I think enough people value the experience of shopping at a locally owned business that the ones that are really working hard to provide great products and service will be around for a long time to come.

3/50

What is the 3/50 Project? It is a brilliant grassroots campaign to encourage people to keep their money where their home is. It's really easy, folks. Just spend 50 dollars at 3 independent businesses each month (that's $50 total) and YOU will positively impact your community.