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The Locally Owned Business Organization (LOBO) of Grand Junction, Colorado celebrates its first anniversary this month. In a year’s time, LOBO has grown from a handful of founders to 52 dues-paying members, ranging from retail stores to contractors, banks, and media outlets. … Read More
Faced with a gap in the local retail base—no pharmacy or bookstore, for example—city officials almost invariably try to lure a national chain into the community. There often seems to be little alternative: how exactly does a town go about establishing a new independent business to fulfill an important function? While there’s no obvious path and it may well prove more difficult than attracting a chain, officials of Orono, Maine recently demonstrated that it can be done.… Read More
The Irish government has made permanent a temporary cap on the size of retail stores in effect since 1998. The new law restricts stores in the Dublin area to 3,500 square meters (38,000 sq. ft.) and applies a 3,000 square meter (32,000 sq. ft.) limit to the rest of the country. The policy also requires that new retail stores be located in town centers. … Read More
At a hearing held in mid-November, residents of New Rochelle, New York were finally given an opportunity to comment on a proposed 308,000 square foot Ikea furniture store. They gave city officials an earful. More than 400 people packed City Hall, while hundreds more stood outside. So many wished to testify that the city was forced to extend the hearings over five nights, taking 18 hours of testimony from more than 200 residents. All but a handful opposed the project. … Read More
Small business owners and neighborhood activists were elated in November when Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy decided to drop his controversial downtown redevelopment plan. The $522 million project involved demolishing 60 historic buildings and condemning 120 mostly locally owned businesses. In their place, Murphy sought to build a massive retail complex, anchored by a Nordstrom department store and several dozen national chains. … Read More
In December, representatives of the 29 states participating in the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) approved model legislation that they hope state legislatures will adopt this year. If enacted, the legislation would move states one step closer to a sales tax system that applies equally to both traditional and electronic retailers. A US Supreme Court ruling bars states from requiring remote sellers, including mail order and internet companies, to collect sales tax. … Read More
Published in 2000, The Hometown Advantage examines the impacts of chain retailers and provides a guide to reviving your community’s local economy. … Read More
Two years ago, a group of independent restaurant owners in Tucson, Arizona stopped thinking of themselves as competitors and launched a collective effort to counter the rapid expansion of chain restaurants. They formed an organization, Tucson Originals, and pooled resources for group promotion and purchasing. Their success inspired the creation of a national independent restaurant network that hopes to seed similar local alliances in cities across the country. … Read More
After a 1989 earthquake destroyed virtually all of its central business district, the city of Santa Cruz, California adopted the Downtown Recovery Plan (DRP), a comprehensive policy for rebuilding the downtown in accordance with several community goals. A decade later, many of these objectives have been met. Downtown Santa Cruz is a healthy, pedestrian-oriented mix of commercial, residential, and public uses. … Read More
