A Day Without Chains

Posted Thursday, Oct 30, 2008

November 22, the Saturday prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, is America Unchained! Day -- a nationwide community-based initiative to encourage residents to shop indies for the entire day. Independent retailers, business alliances, and trade associations are all invited to participate in the fifth annual event, sponsored by the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA). To help communities get started, AMIBA offers a variety of supporting materials via its website, www.amiba.net.

"If the state of the current economy has a bright side, it is the heightened awareness of the need to support the independent businesses in our communities," said AMIBA Director Jennifer Rockne. "So this year's America Unchained! campaign resonates more and has much deeper meaning."

To encourage participation, AMIBA has eliminated the need for registration but asks that communities inform the alliance if they have plans to mark the day in any way. Participants aren't required to plan activities; however, the day serves as a media campaign to raise awareness of the local economic impact of personal spending decisions before the holiday shopping and entertaining season moves into full swing.

As in previous years, a key focus of the America Unchained! event is the findings of Civic Economics' Andersonville Study and "Economic Impact Analysis -- A Case Study: Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers," both of which clearly illustrate that local retailers return more economic value to the community than chain retailers.

Rockne reported that scavenger hunts are popular this year, including one using a literary figure, the ghost of Jacob Marley bearing his burden of chains, who will appear in 12 different local businesses in the Twin Cities. Citizens bearing Unchained punch cards are to find Marley and have him punch their cards. The punched cards will be entered into a drawing for a gift certificate redeemable at Metro IBA member businesses, including a number of indie bookstores.

AMIBA invites ABA members to join in the campaign -- AMIBA affiliation is not required. Additional information about the fifth annual America Unchained! campaign can be found at www.amiba.net.

When participants participate in America Unchained!, Rockne explained, AMIBA provides them with access to templates for posters, a logo, button designs, press releases, and more for local customization. AIMBA also encourages participants to develop their own organizational items. --Karen Schechner

IndieBound for the Holidays & Always!

Bring home the point of the importance of shopping locally and the value of the book with IndieBound holiday marketing materials now in the IndieBound Bookseller DIY. American Unchained brings media and consumer attention to the value of shopping locally, and you can reinforce that in the bookstore, and in your community, with some of the more than 40 new designs and marketing ideas IndieBound has created for the holidays, as well as with other IndieBound materials, including the Here's What You Just Did flier.

A Declaration of Independents

To further customers' understanding of the importance of supporting indies, A Declaration of Independents by Stacy Mitchell, author of The Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses (Beacon), is available for download on BookWeb.org. Adapted from Mitchell's 2006 E.F. Schumacher lecture, the Declaration can be easily printed on two sheets of paper, double-sided, to form an eight-page pamphlet.

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