July 4, 2006

Local retailers unite to reclaim shoppers

By TOM BELL, Portland Press Herald Writer

A coalition of Portland businesses this week is launching a "buy local" campaign to win customers back from chain stores.

The effort, which is new to New England, is part of a national movement that began eight years ago in Boulder, Colo., and now includes dozens of cities, including Tampa, Fla., and Austin, Texas.

Proponents say it's in people's self-interest to buy at independently owned businesses because a large share of the money they spend there remains in the local economy. Even so, many independent businesses have struggled as national chains have opened stores across the state and captured a growing share of the market, said Mary Allen Lindemann, who owns Coffee by Design and initiated the effort.

"We are losing that face of a Maine-owned downtown and what makes it a unique downtown in America," she said.

The group, led by a planning committee that includes 20 businesses and consumers, has chosen the Fourth of July week to launch its campaign, which has an "independence" theme.

For a $20 donation, Portland businesses can buy a packet that includes a "buy local" window decal, a window poster and customer thank-you cards.

The city of Portland also is involved, helping the group with marketing. It's in the city's interest to preserve independent businesses, said Liz Darling, marketing director at the city's economic development office.

"There is a homogenized world going on," she said, "but we need to preserve our one-of-kind business and distinct character. That's our economic advantage. That's what makes Portland unique."

She added, however, that city officials need to "walk a fine line" because corporate-owned businesses are also part of the city and deserve to be treated fairly. She said she's pleased that the campaign's message is a positive one and doesn't calling for boycotting national chains.

Godfrey Wood, chief executive officer of the Portland Regional Chamber, whose members include national companies such as Wal-Mart, said the city needs to have a balance of both independent merchants as well as large national chains.

"They are all parts of the local economy," he said. "The profits may go to different places, but they all provide jobs and decent benefits. And they offer us choices when we shop."

Taken to the extreme, the shop-local approach doesn't make sense to the consumer, he said. "Does that mean we shouldn't shop at Hannaford or Shaw's? I don't think so."

But proponents of the shop-local initiative say they just want a level playing field in an environment in which small businesses are being squeezed by national chains as well as Web-based giants such as Amazon.com.

Stuart Gersen of Longfellow Books and Allan Schmid of Books, Etc. have joined efforts to become leaders in the campaign, even though they compete with each other.

"We wanted to make the point that this campaign, this consciousness-raising effort, is a lot bigger than either of the two of us," Gersen said.

Schmid said many of his customers enjoy having a personal connection with the people they do business with. Beyond that, he said, it's in people's economic self-interest to shop at an independent business.

He said locally owned businesses are more likely to get supplies and services from other local businesses, such as printers, accountants and Web designers.

Schmid points to a 2003 study in the midcoast area that found that more than 50 cents of every $1 spent at an independent business remained in the state. When it came to national chains, only 14 cents of every dollar remained in the state.

The study was done by Stacy Mitchell, a Portland resident who works for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which is headquartered in Minneapolis.

In her study, Mitchell looked at the books of eight locally owned stores in Rockland, Camden and Belfast and compared the figures with a big-box retailer, for which she relied on estimates and published information.

The buy-local approach has worked successfully in Austin, Texas, which has been running a similar campaign since 2001, said Rebecca Melancon, vice president of the Austin Independent Business Alliance.

She said the campaign has raised public consciousness that has translated into increased sales. Five years ago, merchants in their radio advertisements never mentioned they were locally owned. Now they usually do, she said, because they have found it brings customers into their stores. This week, for its "Celebrate Your Independent" campaign in Austin, merchants are giving away stickers, shaped like an armadillo, that say, "I shop locally."

The idea of shopping at independent stores has become a "continuous part of the conversation" among customers, said Steve Bercu, co-owner of a large, independent bookstore near downtown Austin.

Jim McGregor of the Maine Merchants Association, a lobbying group that represents retail giants as well as Maine's mom-and-pop stores, said he has no problem with a buy-local campaign.

"Whether large or small, every store has the right to do whatever they can to get people into their store," he said. "That's the nature of free enterprise."

©2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

 

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