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Moyers & Co., July 11, 2013 One of the primary arguments against allowing big box stores — such as Walmart, Lowe’s, Target and Best Buy — to set up shop in small towns is that they take customers away from local family businesses that have existed in the community for years. Using high-volume sales — versus … Read More
In this 5-minute interview with Ross Reynolds on Seattle public radio station KUOW, Stacy Mitchell talks about how Amazon’s market power has changed the business of selling books and what the future looks like for independent bookstores. … Read More
Truthout, July 7, 2013 Controversy around big-box stores like Walmart, Target, Lowes and Home Depot is nothing new, but communities are getting smarter about tackling these corporate giants — sometimes against considerable odds. In Cape Cod and a handful of other areas across the country, the Economic Impact Review is becoming a vital tool for handling … Read More
The New Republic, July 6, 2013 The main branch of the McAllen, Texas, public library is a sleek modern space, with a circular fountain out front, an art gallery, an interactive touch wall in the children’s section, and long orange benches that look like something out of Kubrick. It’s no surprise the building has won major … Read More
To regenerate local businesses, we’ll need more than Buy Local campaigns; we’ll need to change public policy, which now favors big business. In this presentation, Stacy Mitchell looks at seven key policy areas to focus on.… Read More
Asbury Park Press, July 5, 2013 If you proudly buy locally grown vegetables for your stew, why not buy a U.S.-made slow cooker to cook them in? You should, say Vincent Vittorio and Nathaniel Thomas McGill. And that idea is the core of the pair’s new documentary, American Made Movie. It’s a by-now-familiar film about the … Read More
Boulder Weekly, July 3, 2013 In May, Walmart was hit with $110 million in environmental fines after pleading guilty to improperly dumping pesticides, fertilizer and other hazardous materials into public sewers and landfills. The Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section said that it was the second-largest environmental criminal penalty ever imposed in U.S. history, after the $4 … Read More
Cape Cod is the rare community that considers regional economic impacts when weighing big-box retail development, and that makes all the difference.… Read More
Encore, June 26, 2013 Every now and then, it is nice to be reminded that the Live Local movement is national in scope—that there are opportunities to tap into larger activities aimed at promoting and supporting small business. The 3/50 Project comes to mind as a highly successful example that has gotten national attention for the … Read More
