Local biz coalition wants to keep it in Louisville
Borrowing the idea from Austin, Texas, John Timmons initiated the Keep Louisville Weird campaign to encourage shoppers to support local shops.
BY STEPHEN GEORGE
It’s usually around the holidays every year when I realize how much more homogenized our city has become since the year before. A visit to the malls affirms how much bigger and brighter they’ve become, seemingly to accommodate more of the same.
With each passing annum, more locally owned businesses succumb to behemoth corporate market pressure, as chains with huge advertising and marketing resources proliferate and snare customers with conveniences such as one-stop shopping.
That’s not lost on local retailers, who fear it could rob the city of the characteristics that make it unique. And some are fighting back, emphasizing that character and customer service are also important parts of the buying experience (which is precisely why I blow all my seasonal cash at the local shops).
“I think every city in the United States has some sort of local color,” said Don Burch, who has owned Louisville’s Quest Outdoors for 21 years. “Really, if I put a blindfold on you and put in you the middle of one of these lifestyle centers and I asked you what city you were in, you’d have no idea.”
A few months ago, Burch was driving down Frankfort Avenue behind a TARC bus that was adorned with a simple black-and-white banner: “Keep Louisville Weird.” His interest was piqued, and the message stuck in his head.
Shortly thereafter, he noticed T-shirts bearing the logo while buying CDs at ear X-tacy. Intrigued, he asked an employee what it meant, and within minutes he was in owner John Timmons’ office, asking where to sign up.
Keep Louisville Weird is a rapidly growing coalition of locally owned businesses whose owners share a common goal: keeping the city free of the corporate mess.
“I think there’s been such a rush to become larger than what we are,” said Timmons, who posted a single billboard with the Keep Louisville Weird logo along Bardstown Road five months ago. “We’re losing our city identity. We’re growing for growing’s sake and losing what makes Louisville a unique city.”
The catalyst behind the coalition was the departure last year of Louisville’s largest independent bookseller, Hawley-Cooke, which was acquired by Borders. Other than drawing attention to the distinctive retail shops and restaurants lining Bardstown Road and Frankfort Avenue, as well as other spots such as the Rainbow Blossom on Lexington Road, the coalition stresses the important impact of local, independent businesses on the city’s economy.
“I want people to realize that when they spend their money with a local business, more of that dollar stays in the local community,” Timmons said.
Economic impact studies in Chicago and Austin, Texas, where the “weird” moniker was born, have shown that a much higher percentage of money spent at locally owned businesses remains in the community, as opposed to money spent at chain stores, which is generally siphoned off by corporate caretakers based in other cities.
Burch said the love for locals is splattered all over Louisville.
“People that own the businesses are there on a daily basis,” he said. “They know the community.”
The Keep Louisville Weird coalition will host a scavenger hunt on Saturday, Nov. 20. Registration begins tomorrow, Nov. 18, at ear X-tacy ( 1534 Bardstown Road; 452-1799). Prizes will be awarded from coalition members, including Rainbow Blossom, Lynn’s Paradise Café, Carmichael’s Bookstore and ear X-tacy.
For more information on Keep Louisville Weird, including a list of businesses involved, go to www.keeplouisvilleweird.com.
©Louisville Eccentric Observer 2004
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