Photo: A U.S. flag with corporate logos.
4 Aug 2016

After Three Decades of Neglect, Antitrust Is Back on the Democratic Platform

by | Date: 4 Aug 2016 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

For the first time in 28 years, the Democratic Party platform calls for vigorous, stepped-up enforcement of our anti-monopoly laws. This remarkable shift in policy was made possible in part by the Bernie Sanders movement, but it’s also the product of years of advocacy by scholars and activists who believe that high levels of concentration in banking, retail, agribusiness and other sectors are ravaging our economy and democracy.… Read More
1 Jun 2016

Video: Break the Chains, Build Local Power

by | Date: 1 Jun 2016 | posted in: Energy, From the Desk of David Morris, MuniNetworks, Retail, The Public Good, Waste to Wealth | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Since our founding in 1974, we have worked to rewrite the rules and empower communities to choose their own future. Across several vital economic sectors, we help break the corporate stranglehold that extracts wealth from local economies and undermines democracy. We give communities the tools to build a strong local economy themselves. From banking to energy, healthy soils … Read More

Lost Lease
20 Apr 2016

How Rising Commercial Rents Are Threatening Independent Businesses, and What Cities Are Doing About It

by | Date: 20 Apr 2016 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

As the cost of leasing commercial space soars in many U.S. cities, this report examines what’s behind the skyrocketing rents and explores six broad policy strategies that cities are proposing to keep space appropriate and affordable for independent businesses. … Read More

Photo: Lost our lease.
20 Apr 2016

Press Release: Skyrocketing Rents Threaten Independent Businesses, New Report Explores Solutions

by | Date: 20 Apr 2016 | posted in: Press Release, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The cost of leasing commercial space is soaring in many cities, threatening the future of independent businesses, finds a report released today from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The report examines what’s causing commercial rents to skyrocket and explores six broad policy strategies that elected officials and community leaders are proposing to address it.… Read More

Photo: Empty Walmart.
17 Feb 2016

With 269 Stores Closing, Is this the Beginning of the End for Walmart?

by | Date: 17 Feb 2016 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

All great retail empires eventually fall. A&P did. So did Montgomery Ward. But Walmart’s recent announcement that it would close 269 stores may not be an initial stumble on a path toward demise so much as a move to abandon communities that it has decided simply aren’t worth the trouble. We look at both the bad and the good fallout from Walmart’s pullback, and how its closures are best explained as a side effect of its main strategy for dominating the economy: overbuilding regions to the point of not just destroying competition but cannibalizing its own sales, while communities bear the consequences.… Read More
10 Feb 2016

Independent Businesses Report Growing Sales and Hiring, but Policies Tilted in Favor of Large Companies Hold Them Back

by | Date: 10 Feb 2016 | posted in: Press Release, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The 2016 Independent Business Survey finds that independent businesses experienced brisk sales and a sharp increase in hiring in 2015, but that biased policies and other obstacles are limiting their success.… Read More

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