Three years ago, after learning that Borders Books & Music planned to open an outlet in Corvallis, Oregon, Jack Wolcott, who has owned a local bookstore, Grass Roots Books & Music, for more than thirty years, contacted Bob Baird of The Book Bin and several other local business owners whose stores were likely to be affected by the chain. They began meeting, at first discussing a possible legal challenge to Borders and ultimately deciding instead to organize local businesses and launch a public education effort. Continue reading

More than 250 independent businesses in and around the city of Bellingham in northwest Washington have joined together to urge residents to "think local first" when shopping.

Organized by Sustainable Connections, a coalition of locally owned businesses, the campaign aims to build public awareness of the benefits of supporting homegrown enterprises. "People don’t always make the connection between their quality of life and the choices they make through their purchases," said Sustainable Connections director Michelle Long.

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Last year when Home Depot announced that it would open in a former Ames department store building in Brattleboro, Vermont, a group of residents organized a campaign urging people to avoid the store and continue supporting their hometown merchants.

The group, BrattPower: Supporting Our Local Economy, gathered 3,200 petition signatures in this town of 12,000, organized a community forum, and began running radio and newspaper ads outlining the hidden costs of large chain stores and the benefits of locally owned businesses.

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