America Unchained! Canada Unchained! |
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Saturday, November 21, 2009 |
1. Click to download information and templates
2. email AMIBA to let us know you are participating!
Sometimes seemingly small acts have an impact bigger than you ever imagined. Take family spending. You may think you’re just fulfilling your family’s wants or needs when you shop or dine out. Think again.
The choice of where you spend your money makes a big difference to your community. Spending your money with locally-owned independent businesses puts it to work directly helping your local economy—just one way your community benefits from its independent businesses. They use goods and services of other locally-owned independent businesses--re-circulating your money 3 or more time longer locally than if you spend it at a chain*. This creates greater community health and prosperity.
Now imagine the impact on your community if everyone shopped locally owned. You can stop imagining and help make it a reality.
On November 21, communities around continent will be urged to “unchain” for just that one day—to maximize the impact of their dollars and inject potentially millions more into the local economy through joining other residents to do their shopping, dining out and other business only with locally-owned independent businesses.
We time this important message to reach citizens before they are inundated with a clutter of holiday ads and events. We hope they will carry this message with them as they do all of their holiday purchasing and other business.
AMIBA affiliation is not required to participate. Simply download the campaign materials (see link above) to involve your community! Be sure to inform us that you are participating -- we like to have a sense of how many communities are involved. You'll join our IBAs, kindred organizations, individual community-based businesses, independent trade associations, and motivated citizens everywhere in unchaining their communities and themselves. We provide you with all the campaign information and materials (logos, templates for promotional items, press release, and more) you'll need (Unchained is a public education campaign, so willingness to recruit others and talk to the media are the only skills necessary).
Join our campaign and show your community what a difference a day can make!
Organizational Partners:
Partner with AMIBA to spread the word and engage your members and their communities! Contact us to find out more.
American Specialty Toy Retailing Assn.
Association for Enterprise Opportunity
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
Comics Professional Retail Organization
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Contact AMIBA for more information or to arrange interviews at 406-582-1255 or info“at”AMIBA.net
*Studies in Maine and Austin, Texas demonstrate that locally-owned businesses generate 3.5 times the local economic activity as chains. A study of 10 independent businesses and 10 chains in retail, restaurant and service in Andersonville, Illinois demonstrates independent businesses generate about 70 percent greater local economic activity per square foot and slightly more sales per square foot as chains. Studies in San Francisco and Grand Rapids, Michigan demonstrate the immense economic benefit to the community even a modest shift in personal spending can make.
And the newest study, from New Orleans indicates, in addition to economic benefits of local independent businesses mentioned in previous studies, a similar contraction of the local economy occurs for a 10% shift of spending from local independents to chains.