5/18/04

Group of local business owners trying to get shoppers' attention

By John Yantis, Tribune

In a continuously flowing river of chain stores, Arizona Chain Reaction is the dam that keeps getting gushed over.

Founded by two East Valley business owners a year ago to support locally owned shops, the group celebrates its first anniversary as chains like Wal-Mart, Lowes and Borders continue to march to the Valley. "We are plagued with it," said Kimber Lanning. "My theory about that is people aren't rooted here. If you lived in Chicago, you are going to support the stores that your parents supported. You're going to support your neighborhoods. Here, everybody moves here from somewhere else and so they end up just going to what's familiar or, really, the bottom line is whoever has the most advertising dollars."

Lanning, owner of Stinkweeds New and Used Music, and Michael Monti, owner of Monti's La Casa Vieja on Mill Avenue, both of Tempe, started the group as a public relations campaign to promote the impact local businesses have on the economy and lifestyle.

"Ten years after living here, they're still talking about how great Chicago is while they're standing in line in Wal-Mart and they don't seem to be able to connect the dots," Lanning said of shoppers. "If this city isn't what you want it to be and you want it to be more cultural, then you have to go out of your way to support the places that make it interesting."

While admitting their cause continues to be dismal locally, they say people are taking notice in other places. They point to recent victories in Inglewood, Calif., where voters defeated a Wal-Mart, and in Austin, Texas, where a Border's agreed to pull out of downtown.

Arizona Chain reaction now claims 150 member businesses across the Valley and from as far away as Flagstaff . Its founders say it is changing from a group of volunteers passing the hat to one that is more aggressive.

"That is the challenge we have had which is growing and doing significant things without having a lot of money," Monti said, adding the group was able to enlist some big hitters including Harkins Theatres and Basha's.

A recent study by the Sante Fe, N.M., Independent Business and Community Alliance said national chains are growing 2 1 /2 times faster than than independents, resulting in a substantial amount of money from local economies being sent to out-of-state corporate headquarters.

A study co-sponsored by the Austin Independent Business Alliance found that the local economic impact of shopping with a locally owned business is at least three times that of a chain store. For every $100 spent in a locally owned business, $45 is reinvested in the state economy; while for every $100 spent in a chain store, $13 remains in the state, the study says.

Tom Rex, research manager at Arizona State University 's Center for Business Research, said there is some merit to the idea of shopping local businesses.

"Most of the money that stays is staying in terms of employee salaries, so that's not going to be much different," he said. "The real difference is if the owner/ operator is local, the money stays here instead of leaving in the case of someone from the outside."

Rex said he's unsure if the area will see more independent businesses. "There's just such constant churn within the market it's hard to say," he said. "There was talk that in downtown Tempe chains chased out independents. That happened to a certain extent, but a lot of the chains up and left too."

Lanning says East Valley cities should offer more incentives to land mom-and-pops instead of handing out millions for new or redevelopment projects that promise "big box" stores and other chains. With the exceptions of downtowns Mesa and Chandler, she said there are few places where independents are clustered in the East Valley .

Monti said Tempe wrecked Mill Avenue's once funky feel and replaced independent shops with stores that can be seen in malls. "I had a German guy who was my first webmaster who said ‘You know, it's like when you check into a hotel and there's a paper strip across the toilet that says ‘Sanitized for your protection,'" Monti said.

©East Valley Tribune 2004

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