Plaid, chartreuse or aquamarine Friday, just not black, because economic oppression isn't entitled to its own language.

“Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation”
-- Angela Carter, novelist

Plaid Friday still exists.

The name Plaid Friday was conceived from the idea of weaving the individual threads of small businesses together to create a strong fabric that celebrates the diversity and creativity of independent businesses. Plaid Friday is the relaxing and enjoyable alternative to the big box store “Black Friday,” and is designed to promote both local and independently owned businesses during the holidays.

Plaid Friday was conceptualized in Oakland, CA, a city known for strong shop local campaigns. Plaid Friday strives to bring back the days when shopping for friends and family during the holidays was a pleasurable and leisurely activity.

There are many more small independent businesses in New Albany than in 2012, when I wrote the words that follow, way down below on this page.

At the time, some of us were laboring mightily to create an independent business alliance based on principle set forth by organizations like the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, and the best local example right across the river: Louisville Independent Business Alliance.

Why? LIBA's mission statement explains.

The mission of the Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA) is to preserve the unique community character of the Metro Louisville area by promoting locally-owned, independent businesses and to educate citizens on the value of purchasing locally. In order to pursue LIBA's mission, the organization will focus on:

• Informing citizens of the value provided by locally owned businesses, including their importance to the local economy, culture, and social fabric. The goal is to encourage area residents to view themselves as citizens -- as members of a community rather than merely as consumers.
• Offering group branding, promotion and advertising to LIBA members to elevate the individual and collective profiles of locally owned businesses in order to provide marketing and exposure advantages chains routinely enjoy.
• Creating strong relationships with local government and media in order to inform local decision-making and give voice to the locally owned independent business community, and to promote policies that support community-rooted enterprises.

Can locally-owned, independent, small and family-owned businesses compete and remain viable in an economy increasingly rigged to favor corporate players?

It's a good question, and there are a thousand potential answers, but there is a necessary condition to be fulfilled.

THESE BUSINESSES MUST BE UNIFIED AND THEY MUST ACT IN CONCERT.

We've never achieved this in New Albany. We've never come close. Independent operators seem to believe that someone else will represent their interests; perhaps local government, or Develop New Albany; maybe the Horseshoe Foundation, or the man in the moon.

Independent local businesses have invested hugely in the city. The scale of their investment dwarfs that of any of the preceding entities, but indies simply do not have clout commensurate with the sheer volume of their investments.

No one else is going to do it for indies. Indies have to do it themselves. Being informed is an absolute prerequisite. Here is what I wrote in 2012.

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It's all about educating consumers, but this year more than ever before, it occurred to me that independent small business owners themselves also are prime beneficiaries of an ongoing educational component of any Buy Local campaign.

We can begin by rejecting alien terminology. Words actually matter. If you are a small indie business owner, or if you support the panoply of indie business concepts, you must recognize that "Black Friday" is adverse terminology. It is degrading materialist Big Box Speak, intended to inculcate a sense of mega-chain empowerment. Consider refraining from its usage next year, and train your employees to think and speak in like fashion.

Eventually, we'll retrain the nation, but we have to start somewhere: With ourselves. Language is a good start for revolution, don't you think?

ON THE AVENUES: New Albany's downtown food and dining scene is solid ... for now.

ON THE AVENUES: New Albany's downtown food and dining scene is solid ... for now.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Invariably when I sit down each week to write this column, I spend the first hour desperately searching for loopholes, trying to wiggle out of doing it.

Isn’t there a rerun, a trick, or something slapdash I can use to fulfill this obligation, which after all primarily is intended to suit my own standards of consistency?

But usually, after an hour of digging, reading and flailing, I get back on the beam and manage to come up with something.

Today’s “something” is shift. Shift happens, and so far in 2018, the downtown New Albany food and dining scene is shifting so rapidly that you can’t tell the changes without a scorecard.

Match Cigar Bar's branch in New Albany closed, and subsequently it was announced that a bar called Double Barrel will replace it (they’re working on licensing).

Roadrunner Kitchen sprang to life adjacent to the future Double Barrel, where Urban Bread used to be, leaving NABC Café and Brewhouse without a kitchen, except that Taco Steve moved in, and Bank Street Brewhouse was re-rebranded. Now there’s a vacancy at the kitchen incubator space in the rear of Destinations Booksellers.

La Tiendita got bigger, and following a fire, Hitching Post underwent a complete (and noticeably shrewd) rebuild. It has reopened for business. A stone’s throw away, Dragon King’s Daughter’s new location is being completed.

In the other direction, astride two-way Market Street, the Pints & Union pub is progressing toward completion, and Longboard’s Taco & Tiki is slated to open by early summer. Quills isn’t going anywhere, but the coffee shop’s footprint will change.

Consider that these comings, goings, reboots and launches already were a matter of public record prior to both Feast BBQ and Comfy Cow closing within days of each other.

Still, almost overnight everyone lost their minds.

It’s too strong of a reaction to conclude that downtown suddenly is in retreat. I’m hardly a serial optimist, but it’s premature to begin issuing doom-laden pronouncements about bubbles bursting.

However, there is a “correction” of sorts under way, and in truth, corrections are constant and ongoing. They're happening all the time. It helps to remember that grassroots entrepreneurial capitalism tends to lack a net. It’s unforgiving, and casualties are a constant.

For local independent business owners and managers, life stays complicated. Decision-making involves numerous moving parts, deriving from the input of hundreds of key players, including workers, farmers, bankers, media, middle men, lawmakers, and of course, customers.

Last week people were savaging Ryan Rogers for pulling the plug on Feast BBQ. Perhaps they’ve forgotten that he received national publicity when the restaurant opened in 2012 -- and with it, New Albany’s name went up in lights. It was a wonderful boost.

Since then, Rogers’ business model has thrived, and evolved. A five-and-a-half year run in the restaurant business is rare and enviable, and in 2018 he has multiple metro Louisville restaurants and other calculated uses for his time and money. He made an economic decision in closing Feast’s location here, and I’m reasonably certain the building won’t remain vacant for long.

Similarly, Comfy Cow has been through a lot lately. There was a recall of ice cream last year, and then a shift to out-sourced production; earlier this year, a new owner took control and decided that one Southern Indiana location was enough. As with Feast, there is a considerable (and purely logical) back story.

I’ve received no tips as to what might become of the Comfy Cow building.

Reader: “Roger, why don’t you put a Cincinnati-style chili parlor in there?”

Roger: “Why don’t YOU?”

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Here's my two cents.

As it pertains to lifting all the downtown food and dining boats, together and as a unified growth sector of the economy, previously I’ve reiterated the need for greater cooperation between these entities in the form of a completed restaurant association.

Indie business owners have poured time and money into their businesses, and their potential influence is greater than they realize, although far less so if their clout isn’t combined and directed as one.

Rather than repeat these arguments, you can read the post here: ON THE AVENUES: Necessity was the mother of NARBA, a food and drink invention in need of re-animation.

Shift itself is perpetual, and it isn’t necessarily unfavorable, but in the aftermath of Feast’s and Comfy Cow’s departures, hundreds of opinions and concerns were emitted on social media.

What’s the problem downtown?

What can be done to solve it?

Why can’t we have (choose one) an axe-throwing range, Whole Foods, dirt bikes on the levee, and activities for children?

NEVER MIND, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE OMIGOD THE PARKING IS HORRIBLE.

No, it isn’t, but obviously certain preconditions have quantifiable influence, including the economic climate as a whole, today’s snow storm, tomorrow’s heat wave, who we are as a city, where we want to be, and available options for getting there.

Of course, there is infrastructure: sewers, the power grid, water and garbage. Transportation concerns exist beyond coddling your ride: shall we remain 100% car-centric, or are there multi-modal mobility options?

(Jeff Speck thought so, but Jeff Gahan apparently doesn’t. Consequently a huge opportunity was squandered in 2017.)

To me, job one remains encouraging density in downtown residency, not by bribing huge developers to pursue one or two showpiece projects, but providing fair incentives for a dozen smaller ones.

The more people living within walking and biking distance of historic downtown business district, the better the business climate, and the speedier the shift to balanced offerings; as Bluegill has been asking forever, how far must one walk from his or her home NOT to drink craft beer or eat Peruvian street food, but just buy a damn roll of toilet paper?

Regrettably, a central truth recently has emerged from zoning decisions at city council, in that arriving at a working definition of acceptable density has become so tortuous and Byzantine that concluding how many angels can dance on the head of a pin sounds easy to resolve by comparison. Our community pillars are so terrified of their own shadows (and of those crowds in the council chamber) that they can’t settle on a consistent formula.

Still, my conclusion is that one good way to assure a future for your favorite downtown eatery or watering hole is to encourage residential infill. Several acres of downtown real estate have been scraped clean of buildings and now sits, coated with rain-deflecting asphalt, to be used only on widely scattered occasions as special event parking lots.

Until people are living downtown in bricks and mortar rising from the current barrenness, we’ll continue chasing our tails.

I’ve also come to realize that in spite of the advantages of having a combined Clark and Floyd County tourism bureau, which include a fine staff and some useful economies of scale, the city of New Albany needs to devote time and resources to itself, for itself – and by this I’m NOT talking about the blind man’s bluff approach of billboards and advertisements currently emitted by the city, which generally serve as mayoral campaign blurbs more than “Come to Squalidity City” enticements.

To put it bluntly, outsiders contemplating where to spend their money simply don’t give a flying fug who currently serves as mayor, whether it's Gahan, Real or the ghost of Erni. Rather, they’re looking for reasons to come check out the city.

Can we please begin providing them with these reasons, and not settling for North Korean-sized images of our own Dear Leader?

If we’re to continue reliance on the combined tourist bureau, then we need to negotiate an visitor center presence in Floyd County, preferably in downtown New Albany. I’m told this is something that has been considered. It’s time to make it real.

Finally, we need to be doing whatever we can to promote local independent businesses.

When it comes to the city’s typical economic development expenditures and abatements, it cannot be denied that the bigger the subsidy, the more likely it is being deployed to support chains and far flung corporate empires that drain cash from the local economy every single day.

Summit Springs is the most purely grotesque current example, an inexcusable and atrocious 100% car-centric environmental blotch, set to be stacked with national franchises offering low-income jobs to workers who can’t find affordable housing amid Gahan’s mantra of luxury-first.

Will the people staying in those hotel rooms even know there’s a classic downtown setting less than a mile away, or will they hop back into their cars and head to Louisville -- or Veteran's Parkway?

Yes, we have issues, and yet I think downtown food and dining is solid, at least for now. However, next year there’s a wonderful crossroads: a municipal election, and the chance to gauge the aptitude of political aspirants as it pertains to these and many other questions.

Start jotting them down, folks. This time, let’s make them answer.

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Recent columns:

March 29: ON THE AVENUES: Al Knable doesn’t lie, but the local Democratic Party is a flood-plain Pinocchio. Let’s censure it at the ballot box.

March 22: ON THE AVENUES: Remembering Max Allen, bartender extraordinaire.

March 15: ON THE AVENUES: The books I've been reading during the winter months.

March 8: ON THE AVENUES: Necessity was the mother of NARBA, a food and drink invention in need of re-animation.

Independent business peeps take note: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is far more relevant than One Southern Indiana.

The ILSR's Stacy Mitchell tweeted these words earlier today.

We need to transform “buy local" from a consumers movement into a political movement.

I pumped my fist without realizing it. Here's a page (and an organization) worth every independent business person's time to monitor .

Independent Business: Building a Community-Scaled Economy

Overview

Places that are home to numerous locally owned businesses are more prosperous, sustainable, and resilient than those in which much of the economy is controlled by a few big corporations.

For more than a decade, ILSR has worked with elected officials, grassroots organizations, and business groups to implement policies that reduce the power of dominant corporations, revitalize neighborhood commercial districts, and strengthen and rebuild independent businesses. Today, there are encouraging signs that community-scaled enterprises are on the rise, charting a path toward a more just and sustainable economy.

Gonder: "The business most worthy of economic assistance is one that's already operating."

SIPS had not been open long when Jason agreed with my assessment of the street grid and allowed a two-way sign to be taped to his window.

November 17, 2013: Southern Indiana Paint Supply: On the right side of New Albany street grid history.


Unlike Councilman Gonder, I have not had any need for paint lately, but I share his sadness and dismay. I'm reminded of the numerous times I've heard the city's economic development director lament the absence of any way municipal government might assist independent local business, prior to him running off to submit gerrymandered CF1 Forms (tax abatements for larger businesses) to council.

John explains how and does a good job, as usual. If Gahan and the Democratic Party succeed in kneecapping Gonder in the forthcoming election, he's cordially invited to join The Resistance.

Fish Story--One That Got Away, by John Gonder (Gonder for New Albany At-Large)

A widely accepted proposition in pursuit of environmental responsibility is, "the greenest building is one that's already built." This says, use the earth's resources which have already been expended in a good, solid, or even well-worn structure, before chasing after the tweaks and technological advances of new construction in pursuit of greater efficiencies. After all, even a high-efficiency structure displacing a usable older building, carries with it the sunk environmental costs of the resources, time, money, and effort of the original building. Even if those costs are not reflected monetarily, they are still carried as debits on the earth's ledger.

An economic development corollary to that proposition might be, "the business most worthy of economic assistance is one that's already operating." Assuming the existing business is a positive commercial citizen of the community, one that adds value by delivering necessary and helpful products, services or labor, or one that by its very presence helps to stabilize a neighborhood or lay the groundwork for further improvement in a particular part of town, it may be wiser to focus scarce economic development funds on that business, rather than a different startup asking for assistance. It may be better to water a withering vine than to plant a new one.

I happened upon such a withering vine yesterday in New Albany's Uptown area. It is the Benjamin Moore paint store at the corner of Vincennes and Market streets. I buy a lot of paint, and yet in the two years the store has been in New Albany, yesterday was the first time I'd been in it. So, I, and others like me, are at least part of the reason the store is closing. The gentleman working at the store and I discussed the sad news reported by the big yellow notes on the front door, and the cash register, posted to inform customers that the store will close on September 11, 2015 ...

Who knew the Hooters in Clarksville is connected to New Albany sewers?

Shouldn't "buying local (lunch)" be itemized on our sewer bills?

ON THE AVENUES: As a journalist and entrepreneur, I’m not tired of the “Buy Local” argument. Not at all.

ON THE AVENUES: As a journalist and entrepreneur, I’m not tired of the “Buy Local” argument. Not at all.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Back in 2010, one of my locally-written columns for the Alabama-owned newspaper, which these days is “local” primarily to Jeffersonville alone, asked the question, “Can ‘shift happen’ in New Albany, too?”

(Those scraping, clanking, stevedore sounds you hear are CNHI wagons being circled. It’s the one tip they never, ever miss.)

But have no fear; today’s essay has nothing whatever to do with newspapers, because it’s all about localism – and by virtue of its corporate ownership, the newspaper simply ain’t. With your indulgence, I’d like to revisit my 2010 piece, with a few relevant updates.

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In the better (craft) beer business, we have creatively adapted an old activist mantra to suit our specific circumstances: “Think globally, drink locally.”

American “craft” beer is a locally brewed adult beverage. It is not to be confused with mass-produced, conceptually derivative swill from multinational manufacturing corporations like AB InBev or MillerCoors, which currently seek to foist the word “craft” on unsuspecting drinkers via misleading marketing tactics that might make Moons appear Blue, and cause even Herr Goebbels to cringe.

Genuine American “craft” beer is best consumed locally, with folks who share the vision and dream the dream, and as a locally loyal revolutionary, I do my fair share of sampling. Indeed, quality control is a never-ending task. To my delight and edification, the ongoing revival of downtown New Albany allows me to drink local beer quite locally – when merited, copiously – and still walk home afterward in a physically beneficial and socially responsible manner.

In fact, my family’s decision in 2003 to buy the midtown house we currently occupy was consciously calibrated with drinking, dining, walking and bicycling in mind. Mind you, this was before there was much of anything downtown to walk or bike to. Local independent businesses have rectified the situation, largely without governmental subsidies of the sort generally fluffing Chain Land. It’s enough to gladden a tea partier’s heart -- if you can pull him away from the culinary glories of Chick-fil-A.

You see, it wasn’t “luck” that enables my strolling and biking. It was planning, stemming from solid, traditional, locally-based principles of life indigenous to urban areas originally built for precisely these same purposes. At one time such notions were the accepted norm. Now they are being rediscovered by New Albany’s residents old and new, and the city’s rising indie business community.

“Thinking globally” provides wonderful insights into successful strategies pursued in differing environments. As an example, in 2010 my family reunion was held in Concord, Massachusetts, and during the course of rooming, dining and watering options in the Boston metropolitan area, we chose to stay in Somerville, a community just to the north of downtown Boston.

Apparently, such is the taste for Somerville self-identity (of course, the city’s residents still cheer for the Red Sox) that it has a “buy local first” movement: Somerville Local First. Consider the way that Somerville’s business community defines its mission.

Overview: There is a movement coming....a return to local and the emergence of sustainable economies. We're at the epicenter....Shift Happens

Mission: Somerville Local First, formed in March 2008, is a network of locally owned and independent businesses to build a robust Somerville economy and a vibrant community.

We accomplish this by:

-Organizing a Somerville Local First campaign that raises the awareness of customers, businesses, and government agencies regarding the benefits of purchasing from locally owned businesses.

-Implementing programs and discounts that reduce the cost of doing business for locally-owned businesses. Bringing together independent businesses for mutual benefit and networking opportunities.

-Supporting Somerville ordinances and regulations that promote locally owned businesses.

-Collaborating to deliver programs to help local businesses become greener in their business operations.

Products: Organizing, supporting, strengthening and promoting locally-owned, independent businesses in Somerville, MA. Educating customers about the benefits of shopping locally.

www.facebook.com/SomervilleLocalFirst

New Albany’s locally-minded group is called New Albany First, with goals mirroring Somerville’s. Across the river is the older, more established Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA). LIBA’s goal of keeping Louisville “weird” in a sense of uniqueness and independent ownership is shared by many businesses on the Indiana side of the river.

Glancing to the east, beyond the Interstate-driven, exhaust-perfumed franchise purgatory of Clarksville, another “buy local first” model also exists. Jeffersonville Main Street actively seeks to organize its business community, and wastes no opportunity to espouse these core “buy local first” principles. On the other hand, New Albany’s main street organization, Develop New Albany, openly concedes that it would gaily promote Wal-Mart if Wally World coughed up the requisite membership fee. That’s horrid, if pathetically typical of a what happens in the absence of principle.

Why does any of this matter? The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org) offers these ten vital commandments. The sooner New Albany grasps them, the better, but slowly, the shift indeed is happening.

1. Protect Local Character and Prosperity
New Albany is unlike any other city in the world. By choosing to support locally owned businesses, you help maintain New Albany’s diversity and distinctive flavor.

2. Community Well-Being
Locally owned businesses build strong neighborhoods by sustaining communities, linking neighbors, and by contributing more to local causes.

3. Local Decision Making
Local ownership means that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.

4. Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy
Your dollars spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community as dollars spent at national chains. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through sales tax, invest in neighborhood improvement and promote community development.

5. Job and Wages
Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

6. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship fuels America’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.

7. Public Benefits and Costs
Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls.

8. Environmental Sustainability
Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers-which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

9. Competition
A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.

10. Product Diversity
A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

Who could ever tire of localism when localism makes so much sense?

AMIBA: "Six Common Mistakes That Kill 'Buy Local' Campaigns."

Something to remember, assuming we ever get around to really doing it.

Six Common Mistakes That Kill "Buy Local" Campaigns, By Jeff Milchen and Joe Grafton (AMIBA)

Inspired by the apparent success of many long-term efforts coordinated by local grassroots groups, hundreds of U.S. communities have initiated “buy local campaigns” in recent years. The trouble is, only a fraction of those endured to create real shifts that benefit local entrepreneurs, while most fade away or dissolve quickly.

But don’t let that discourage you from what can be a superb investment to create more wealth and good jobs in your community. The good news for anyone considering a buy local campaign or instigating a local business coalition is most efforts fail for reasons both predictable and easily avoided, with the right guidance. Recognizing these six common mistakes and learning elements shared by the most impactful campaigns will give you a great chance for success!

Paul Pierce "shops small" in Brooklyn.

Personally, I shy away from the Small Business Saturday (November 30) because of the American Express connection, but it does not mean this isn't a valuable idea (and video).

Look at all those people out on the street. Walkability really is the key, isn't it?

Six hours?

Some sobering and fascinating numbers herein.

When Buying Local Doesn't Build Community Wealth, by Amy Cortese (Locavesting)

Buy local. Support local business. These are the rallying cries that community-boosters (including myself) use all the time. When you spend money at a local business, the theory goes, more of that money circulates in the community, supporting other local businesses as well as charities and boosting the local tax base.

Except when it doesn't.

"Kate Caufield completes a year-long ‘buy local’ challenge."

It's about overlapping circles and a steady process of shifting.

Weird for a week? Scratch that… Kate Caufield completes a year-long ‘buy local’ challenge, by Melissa Chipman (Insider Louisville)

Just as I embarked on my “buy local” weeklong challenge, Kate Caufield was wrapping up hers.

On June 30, 2013, Caufield, president of New Albany First, finished up not a just a week, but a whole year of buying local.

Here was her mental checklist for every purchase: “Can I buy it at an independently owned store in New Albany? In Jeffersonville? Can I get it at a locally-owned franchise in New Albany? In Jeffersonville? Can I buy it at an independently-owned store in Louisville? Locally-owned franchise in Louisville?”

Independent We Stand: "Small Business. Big Impact."

I'm not thrilled with Independent We Stand's annual promotion with American Express, but the video seems solid, and touches on the necessary talking points.

Chain newspaper crazy train going off the rails.

Kudos to Dan Christensen.

First the cub reporter regularly uses his Twitter feed (under the chain newspaper's banner, and presumably with its permission) to lash out at small, independent local businesses.

Now the chain newspaper has published a column, evidently unavailable on  line, written by a woman urging big box flower arrangement shopping. Meanwhile the pop-up publisher of the year wanders off to post Bible proverbs, assigning a column slot to his pastor.

As we seek discernible signs of coherent chain newspaper management amid the escalating squalor, here's the florist's cogent point.

READER JEERS

... To Darlene Hilsenback for her column in last Saturday’s paper telling people to shop the big chain stores instead of their local florist on Valentine’s Day. Study after study shows money spent with small locally owned and operated shops benefits the local economy. With all the work groups and businesses do to try to get this out when someone encourages people to bypass the local florists and shop the chain stores for a better deal, we tend to get very upset. If you as consumers will take the time to shop your local florists I think you might be pleasantly surprised. Most of your local shops will compete not only in price, but also in service. It was stated in her column that the chain stores have less overhead, but in reality the small shops do not have the buying power that the big chain stores have. We can’t lose money on our flowers only to make it up on other products while you are in the stores, and still we try to stay competitive on our prices and services. I encourage everyone to BUY LOCAL, shop your local florists this year for Valentine’s Day, you and the person you are buying for will not be disappointed.

— Dan Christensen, co-owner, Affairs of the Heart Florist in Jeffersonville

A locally owned and operated florist since 1991

Why buy local? LIBA provides a helpful and timely answer.

(From LIBA)

Why Buy Local?

TO KEEP IT WEIRD: Locally-owned businesses are one-of-a-kind enterprises that are vital to the unique character of the Louisville Metro community.

TO KEEP YOUR $ LOCAL:

Read the rest of the story here.

Louisville numbers that prove shopping local benefits the neighborhood.

"Money spent at independent outlets is more likely to stay local than that spent at a chain."

I can hear the kitchen table dentures clucking, although in this instance, as oft times before, possessing actual facts has a way of soothing savage replies.

Speaking of local indie business, I have errands to occupy my Friday. If Jeff wants to post, cool, but I'll be taking the day off from blogging.

Shopping Local Benefits The Neighborhood: Here Are The Numbers That Prove It, by Ben Schiller (Co.EXIST)

Think about this the next time you go to the neighborhood CVS or Starbucks: You could do more for the local economy by visiting the small pharmacy or coffee place on the corner. How much more? According to a recent study for Louisville, Kentucky--which looks at the "local premium" of spending at local outlets instead of big chains--perhaps four times as much.

Civic Economics has been running the numbers for lots of towns and cities over the last 10 years. And the newest batch of studies--for Louisville, Milwaukee, Ogden, Utah, and the Six Corners area of Chicago--corroborate what at least eight similar ones have shown. Money spent at independent outlets is more likely to stay local than that spent at a chain. The study for Louisville found that independent stores recirculate 55.2% of revenues compared to 13.6% for big retailers, and that local restaurants recirculate 67%, while big chains do 30.4%.

Plaid Friday 2: "Holidays test Indiana woman's 'buy local' strategy."

Seems like we were here just yesterday. We wuz ... we wuz here yesterday: "Buy thoughtfully and support our entrepreneurs and community businesses."

There's thoughtful, and then there's ...

But let's go back to thoughtful. Kate's in the newspaper.

Holidays test Indiana woman's 'buy local' strategy, by Jere Downs (Courier-Journal)

In June, Kate Caufield traded her routine of shopping at Kohl’s, Target and Kroger with meals at Subway or McDonald’s for a “buy local” habit. Christmas shopping, however, has tested that mission while she strives to find gifts first from homegrown sources in and around New Albany.

Locally owned food sources include Rainbow Blossom. Clothing has been purchased from Mariposa Fine Consignments on Pearl Street, while coffee comes from Quills on Market Street. Salon Strandz is nearby on Vincennes Street for hair care and makeup.

Then the holidays arrived, which has been an extra challenge with two children, ages 6 and 9, and family members not invested in the idea of meeting all their needs via local merchants.

Caufield: "What makes a town livable, unique, and a place that one desires to reside?"

Here's the blog link: New Albany 365. My advice to Kate is to refrain from doing your civic duty and running for office. Columns can disappear when you do that.

CAUFIELD: The New Albany 365 experiment, by Kate Caufield (News and Tribune)

... What makes a town livable, unique, and a place that one desires to reside?

It’s the unique, independent businesses that locate there, and the residents who take their hard-earned money and spend it there. It’s the towns that recognize that though the ubiquitous chains bring temporary jobs and short lived cash injections, it is the small, independently owned, and local businesses that make them vibrant, thriving, and sustainable.

Recently, yet another study has emerged that shows the impact on a local economy of buying at an indie, local business is roughly four times the impact of shopping at a box store — depending on what type of establishment. The study can be found here: localfirst.org/think-local/slc-economic-study

One of the more interesting things to come from this study was the fact that local retailers return an average of 52 percent of their revenues back into the local economy, while chain retailers only return about 14 percent. Restaurants are even more remarkable. If you go out for date night to an indie local restaurant, they’ll recirculate approximately 79 percent back into your local economy, while chains average around 30 percent.

Both beginning: Independents Week and a 365-day journey.

Kate Caufield's 365 day journey starts today.

What journey? Well, I am going to attempt to make as many of my daily purchases, entertainment, food, groceries, etc for my family of four from independent, local businesses in New Albany, IN as I can for 365 days, and anyone that would like to follow along and encourage, comment, jeer, vex, pontificate, advise, admonish, make suggestions, or tease is welcome to share their thoughts.

She's blogging about it at New Albany 365.Not coincidentally, today also marks the start of Independents Week.

Independents Week is a time to recognize your community’s local independent businesses and the values they embody. It’s a celebration of their spirit of entrepreneurism and individuality, and an occasion to recognize their local contributions of time, talent, goods and services.

From AMIBA

It's Indie Week. My opinion is that the sooner we make localism and small business independence a part and parcel of our daily craft beer dialogue, the better. But first, we must WANT to think about what's involved with these principles. Too many craft drinkers don't, although I remain confident that eventually, they will.

Are you drinking locally?

Posted by Roger Baylor in Baylor on Beer | 0 comments

Occasionally I’m accused by my critics (oddly, a handful remain) of having an insufficient social conscience, in the sense of my always preaching about beer when more important issues beg to be addressed.

With specific reference to my workplace in downtown New Albany, this criticism sometimes is extended to encompass the relatively sudden growth of dining and drinking establishments over the past five years, with the question being phrased something like this: Can gluttony and drunkenness alone revitalize a moribund area?

My answer is that unless we discover vast oil reserves beneath our decaying pavements, or find a way to mimic the manufacturing practices of Asian sweat shops inside the many remaining deteriorated historic structures, then yes, beefsteak and porter are fairly good starter options for regeneration, at least when they’re correctly prepared – the meat served rare, and the beer in a damned big glass.

All fathers are (should be) local.

One reason why the choice of River View retail tenants matters.

As noted yesterday ...

Are they protesting loudly?

Previously: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ... and Hauss Square.