Archive for August, 2007

About

Why do we care about independent businesses? We care for the same reason that you probably feel a twinge of nostalgia when you see a small bookstore go out of business because of the retail giant up the street, even though you may have never once been inside that store. There is a disconnection we see in ourselves, and others; we feel powerless to change and thus free from responsibility for the world around us. But neither is true; the power and the responsibility both rest on the individual, and change starts with awareness.

It all comes down to what kind of town you want to live in.

A hamburger from McDonalds tastes the same in St. Paul, MN as it does in Sarasota, Florida or Portland, Maine; A Target store in Tulsa, Oklahoma will look pretty much the same and sell the same products as Target in Tempe, Arizona. Why is that? And is it really a bad thing? Consistency is a bedrock principal for any national restaurant or retail chain, second only to efficiency, and this model has been an almost unbelievably successful way to grow a business.

But have you noticed, as you’re leaving that McDonalds or Target or whatever chain store, that whole towns have started to look the same? You can drive from one side of this country to the other and everyday eat the same meals, drink the same cup of coffee, and sleep in the same hotel room.

Is that really a good thing?

Many small communities are excited when a big retail chain comes to town, seeing it as a sign that their town is moving up in the world. More selection, lower prices, what’s the downside? But one day you look up, and realize that a strip of fast food chains and a Wal-Mart is all that’s left. The overwhelming choices and the low prices are still there, but you’re town is essentially gone, an ugly shell of itself, a community of strangers. If that is the kind of place you want to live in, you’re in luck; you don’t have to do a thing, because the developers will do all the work for you. Just sit back and enjoy the savings.

However, if you are among the group of people that sees a problem with that scenario, you probably feel powerless to do anything but watch the wheels of economic progress roll over your town. And you probably feel like this problem has nothing to do with you, and you maybe curse the chain stores that have ruined your town, but you go, grudgingly perhaps, and you shop there anyway.

We’re here to tell you it has everything to do with you. You are not a passive spectator; you are a power player in the local economy. Where you shop, what you eat, these are decisions that have a profound effect on the world. One way or another, you are going to spend your money, so why not do it wisely?

This is not a political movement; we are not anti-capitalists and we don’t hate big business. We’re not trying to tell anyone what to think, either, because ultimately the issue we are addressing is choice. All that we are asking is that people own up to the responsibilities of choice, that they stop and actively ask themselves:

What kind of world do I want to live in?

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