Sunday December 28, 2003
Santa Fe New Mexican
Top Ten Business Stories of 2003
Bob Quick, Staff Writer
(Excerpt)
2. Growth of local business alliance
The Santa Fe Independent
Business Alliance, a nonprofit group, was established in late 2002 in response
to concerns about the increasing power of multinational corporations and
Santa Fe 's increasing poverty rate. The group, which encourages Santa
Feans to patronize locally owned businesses and banks, now has more than
500 members, according to a new directory that was published in December.
About half of them are businesses; the rest are individuals and families.
The goal is to have several thousand members, organizer David Kaseman said.
The alliance is open to large businesses and small as long as they're locally
owned. Those business members typically grant other alliance members discounts
of 10 percent or more.
A study commissioned by the alliance and performed
by a Texas-based firm, Angelou Economics, showed that independent businesses
in Santa Fe have a larger share of the local economy than such businesses
do nationally. At the same time, however, those large businesses are growing
in the city in both numbers and employment totals at a faster rate than local
businesses. The report also found that 37 percent of 100 independent Santa
Fe businesses surveyed felt increased pressure from national chains. In an
analysis of two grocery stores, the report indicated that 25 percent of a
national grocer's operating costs leave the area compared with 12 percent
for the local grocer.
©2004 Corvallis Gazette-Times
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