New England Local Business Forum: Collaboration Is Key

On Friday, May 4, the New England Local Business Forum [1] (NELBF [1]) was held at First Parish Church in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This eighth gathering of area small business owners, co-sponsored by the New England Independent Booksellers Association, brought together partners in the book, bike, and toy industries to create a diverse environment for sharing innovative ideas and learning how to better grow local businesses. Two American Booksellers Association staff members participated in the NELBF panels.  Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger spoke about what ABA is doing to help its members leverage the Local First movement to grow their businesses. David Grogan, ABA senior policy analyst, provided an overview of sales tax fairness efforts on the national and local levels.

The day kicked off with a keynote address regarding the economics of local business growth by author Michael Shuman, the director of research and economic development for the Business Alliances for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and a fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. Shuman talked about a program that allows communities to identify what industries are missing at the local level and how to use that information to estimate how many jobs could be created. He also shared some key information from his new title, Local Dollars, Local Sense [2] (Chelsea Green).

Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, Karen Marlzoff, and Stacy Mitchell at  NELBF.

After a short break, Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, moderated the panel “New Collaborations With Trade Association Leaders and Buy Local Networks.” Panelists Karen Marlzoff of Seacoast Local, Sally Lesser of Henry Bears Park Toy Stores, and ABA’s Dallanegra-Sanger talked about the different challenges trade associations and their members face and the most effective ways to promote shopping locally, including participation in the American Express Small Business Saturday [3] program.

Dallanegra-Sanger explained ABA’s work with the different members of the book industry, the soon-to-launch initiative “Why Indies Matter,” and how the association has promoted collaboration among a broad range of indie businesses through the creation of IndieBound.  She emphasized the importance of determining the next step for local movements and the need for cooperative efforts. As an example, Dallanegra-Sanger presented details of “Find Waldo Local [4], a recent marketing program from Candlewick Press. The publisher is partnering with ABA member stores to promote local businesses in all 50 states. Participating bookstores will host scavenger hunts in July that involve people searching for Waldo figurines and other Waldo merchandise (from Where’s Waldo?) at local bookstores and other businesses within their communities. “My thought,” Dallanegra-Sanger said, “is that part of the future of local business promotion is to find different partnerships that can help create day, week, or month-long events like that.”

Local participants in the NELBF event were very interested in exploring ideas that promote local businesses in general and not just one industry, said Dallanegra-Sanger. A member of the innkeeper industry was excited about Why Indies Matter, particularly the idea of involving authors in promoting the importance of independent businesses.

“Authors have platforms, they have voices out there, and many people listen to them,” said Dallanegra-Sanger. “By involving these authors in the local movement it would help the community.  I think that’s what we all need to do, whether it’s independent filmmakers who get actors or actresses to speak out, or musicians. Getting anyone who has a public platform of some sort to voice support can help everybody.”

The next panel, moderated by Frank Kramer, owner emeritus of Harvard Book Store and co-chair of the Steering Committee of Cambridge Local First, discussed Sales Tax Fairness [5]. Bill Rennie of the Massachusetts Retailers Association addressed state level issues, while ABA’s Grogan explained the federal solution and the association’s efforts in other states. Grogan said the focus was on “how local business groups can help the cause. How they can work with associations to get these bills passed.”

The audience was very interested in learning how to participate, giving more power to the message that Grogan wanted to emphasize: “All local business retailers (not only independent booksellers) need to join in. The more local retailers we have joining this effort, the better our chances and the more powerful our message is going to be.”

The final panel of the day focused on how to promote buying locally and marketing your business during the holiday season. NELBF closed with a very useful and up-to-date workshop about online marketing strategies.

For more information about the panelists and topics, visit NELBF.org [1]. —Laura Peraza