Jeff Milchen, co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), will conduct a forum on supporting hometown businesses on Thursday, Sept. 14, at 9 a.m. at Hillside Farms, Shavertown. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The event will be hosted by the Tudor Bookshop & Cafe and the Kingston Area Merchants and Professionals Association, through the support of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association.
Milchen will offer a provocative presentation illustrating the economic and civic importance of a strong base of local, independently-owned businesses and exploring the hidden costs of chain-store proliferation. He will discuss ways in which locally-owned businesses can work together through advertising campaigns, community projects and other avenues to promote a strong local economy of successful independent businesses.
Milchen will also provide numerous success stories of Independent Business Alliance programs, which support community-based businesses while preventing chains from driving out locals. One example is America Unchained!, a national event held the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Shoppers across the country are urged to “unchain” themselves and shop only at locally-owned independent businesses for the day. The event demonstrates the significant impact that even a single day of shopping at community-owned businesses can have on the local economy. This year’s America Unchained! is planned for Nov. 18.
Milchen co-founded and directed the first Independent Business Alliance in the country in Boulder, Colo., in 1998. Three years later, he co-founded AMIBA to help other communities start successful IBAs of their own, create a network for collaboration among them, and begin building momentum for national shifts. The event will feature examples from the two dozen IBAs now operating across the country, from towns of a few thousand people to some of the largest cities.
The event is free and open to the public but space is limited. To learn more about this forum or to register, contact John Plucenik at 331-4766 or ark1@epix.net.
Special thanks to Hillside Farms for the use of their space and to John Plucenik of The Westsider magazine for making the arrangements.