Dear CBA members and show attendees:

It was great to be part of the International Christian Retail Show this year. Below you’ll find a variety of useful tools and resources.

I’d love to hear from you.  You can reach me with any questions or comments through this form. 

All the best, 
Stacy Mitchell

• Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses 
  More about the book.  Order from ILSR/New Rules.  Order from your local bookstore.

• Sign-up for the Hometown Advantage Bulletin, my monthly e-newsletter with the latest news, research, and ideas for strengthening locally owned businesses in your community.

• Why Support Locally Owned Businesses?
  Our top ten reasons. Download as a one-page flyer for distribution.

• Buy Local Slide Show
  View examples of how communities are promoting the importance of supporting locally owned businesses.

• How to Start a Buy Local Campaign
  Buy local campaigns are changing people’s shopping habits in cities across the country. This 4-page factsheet offers tips on how to launch one in your community.

• Catalyzing Your Own "Buy Local" Movement CD
  Available from the New Rules online store, this CD contains 130 slides synched with audio.

• Map of Local Business Alliances
  Click the markers on this map to link to more than 120 Buy Local and Local First initiatives nationwide.

• Selected Articles from the Hometown Advantage
  Read about some of the most effective "buy local" and "local first" campaigns in the country. 

• American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA)
  An organization that offers great how-to resources for promoting your business as locally owned and starting a local business alliance and buy-local campaign in your community.

• IndieBound
  An initiative of the American Booksellers Association that helps independent businesses communicate their community roots and independence.

• Key Studies
  Summaries of a variety of studies that have examined the hidden cost of chain stores and the benefits of locally owned businesses. Download as a PDF for copying and distributing.

• Locally Owned vs. Chain: The Local Premium
  This one-page factsheet explains the local multiplier: how dollars spent at locally owned stores circulate in the local area and support numerous local businesses and jobs.

• Books & Films
  Our recommended reading and watching list.

• Declaration of Independents
  Lecture delivered by Stacy Mitchell at the 26th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

• Changing Public Policy
  Click this link and use the menu on the right (LOCAL POLICIES, STATE POLICIES, etc.) to navigate the New Rules Project’s wealth of policy tools for leveling the playing field for locally owned businesses and controling the impacts of big-box development.  Please share these with your elected representatives!