The Austin Independent Business Alliance was a co-sponsor of the report:
Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study of Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers (609kb PDF).
The study revealed these facts:
FACT 1:
Modest changes in consumer spending habits can generate substantial local economic impact. For every $100 in customer spending at Borders, the total local economic impact is only $13. The same amount spent with a local merchant yields $45, more than three times the local economic impact.
FACT 2:
Development of urban sites with directly competitive chain merchants will reduce the overall vigor of the local economy and ultimately the purchasing choices you, the customer, have. New and different local merchants bring a complementary (instead of competing) line of goods to the market, leading to increased choices among merchants with similar but unique lines of goods.
FACT 3:
If each household in Travis County simply redirected just $100 of planned holiday spending from chain stores to locally owned merchants, the local economic impact would reach approximately $10 million.
Each time we spend a dollar, we should consider the full value of our choices, and remember that each dollar is a vote for the future direction of our community. The votes we cast with our dollars every day influence our community at least as much as those cast on election days. Many customers are under-informed about the values independent businesses provide, both individually and collectively. With better information, customers might more often choose to patronize local businesses because it benefits the community. Local owners with much of their life savings invested in their businesses have a natural interest in the long-term health of the community.
Chain stores are not inherently bad. Indeed, they deliver a consistent level of goods and services we appreciate. What would be bad is if we woke up to find nothing but chain stores, that Austin had been reduced to “Anywhere, USA”. Each year brings more national chains displacing locally owned businesses. AIBA aims to reverse the trend of losing locally owned independent businesses by organizing collaborative efforts among members and creating a stronger bond between local businesses and the community.
