LIVE LOCAL EAST DALLAS

The mission statement of Live Local East Dallas is to “encourage the community to think local first while recognizing the economic, social and community benefits of doing business with local businesses.”

A kick-off event will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 6 - 8 p.m. at Times Ten Cellars, inviting businesses, nonprofits and individuals to sign up for a membership. Costs range from $15 for an individual to $250 for a “sustaining business”. Among the membership benefits for businesses and nonprofits are: has a story behind it,” she says.

The steering committee for the initiative includes Kert Platner of Times Ten Cellars; Mark Smith of Professional Bank; MaryBeth Shapiro and Elaine Starkey of Republic Title of Texas; Benji Vega of Colossal Spaces; Rick Wamre of magazines and Gizmo Group, and attorney Lynda Lee Weaver.

For information, including how to join, visit livelocaleastdallas.com.

Items fly off of her shelves “anytime there’s a connection to where you live or a relationship — and that bodes true for any type of business. You can’t look at things as a transaction. Everything is relationship-based.”

This statement rings true for Mark Smith, president of Professional Bank. He lives in Casa Linda and works in Lakewood, where the original of the independent bank’s three branches is located. Smith says roughly 95 percent of his purchases are made in our neighborhood. One motivator is the relationship he has built with Lakewood and East Dallas businesspeople.

“The bank is a block away from Times Ten Cellars, and I know [co-owner] Kert [Platner] lives in Lakewood, and know he’s a huge advocate of the community and sponsors things,” Smith says.

“I think it helps when you know people live, work, eat, breathe in this community.” Plus, he says, “I like going into the dry cleaner, and they know me. When you go to the same place to get your hair cut or nails done, you start developing these relationships, and all of a sudden you’re making all of these connections.”

Smith and Platner are on the steering committee of the new Live Local East Dallas initiative. It’s all about “just remembering your stores, remembering your restaurants, remember your title companies and banks in your community, and support them as they support you,” Smith says.

The general idea is that spending money at locally owned shops and restaurants not only creates a living for the people who live down the street and around the block, but also keeps more money in the community. And it’s not only anecdotal evidence supporting this notion.

In 2002, economic analysis and strategic planning firm Civic Economics began studying the likely economic impact of a proposed Borders bookstore in Austin, Texas, at Lamar and 6th, the same corner where independent stores

BookPeople and Waterloo Records are located. The firm found that for every $100 in consumer spending at Borders, the total local impact was $13. But the same amount spent at Waterloo or BookPeople yielded $45 — more than three times the chain’s impact to the local economy.

Civic Economics conducted a similar study in 2004, this time focusing on Andersonville, an eclectic but rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Chicago. The results were comparable: Of $100 spent at chains, $43 funneled back into the local economy, while the same amount rung up at mom-and-pops generated $68 into Chicago’s economy.

Such findings prompted Andersonville neighbors to support what was nicknamed a “little-box” ordinance that would restrict retail chains from setting up shop in the community, especially along pedestrian streets and in historic districts. Andersonville residents have not yet been successful in their quest, but similar ordinances, often called “formula business” ordinances, are active in the downtown areas of Fredericksburg, Texas, and Bristol, R.I., the neighborhood business districts of San Francisco, and the towns of Chesapeake City, Md., and Port Townsend, Wash.

Legal restrictions such as these are difficult to enact because they are plagued by debates over property rights and definitions of distinctive areas. Grassroots initiatives are much more common, such as the recently launched 3/50 project that draws on the local economic impact findings in the Andersonville study. The project poses the question: “What three independently owned businesses would you miss if they disappeared?”

With that thought in mind, the project encourages people to make $50 in purchases every month from three locally owned businesses, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor that if half the employed population followed suit, their actions would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. And according to the Austin and Andersonville statistics, the more money spent in our neighborhood, the more of those billions go to work in our community.

“It’s keeping money local,” Starkey says. “For every dollar you’re putting into your community, you’re improving where you live. If you’re putting money into a store that is locally owned, you’re helping people keep their jobs.”

This philosophy also works to help neighborhood nonprofits and schools.

“As our business grows, we’re then able to give more money back to the community — support local charities and do more sponsorships,” Starkey says of Republic Title. “When business is slow, we’re not able to do that as much.”

Support from the community is essential when gambling on a momand-pop retail space, says Rita Davis, co-owner of The Pearl Cup. She and

Defining

The American Independent Business Alliance defines a “local” independent business as one that has private, employee, community or cooperative ownership; is owned in majority by area residents; in which full decision-making function for the business lies within its owners; and has no more than six outlets and bases of operation within a single state.

business partner Carlene Saelg opened the independent coffee shop in the burgeoning strip of Henderson near ross, taking a risk in the current economic climate.

“I would be naïve for [going out of business] not to be a concern,” Davis says. “We are small, we don’t have deep pockets, and we exhausted all of our personal resources for this because it was very important. the community has to embrace what you’re doing, and for us it’s very important for them to let us know what they want.” there are a lot of people here who seek dialogue and educated conversation, and to me that’s what it’s all about.” the reaction made sense, considering that Saelg and Davis opened the coffee shop on Henderson because “the neighborhood just has a really good energy. If you live in the neighborhood, it’s probably one of the reasons you do.

Feedback from neighbors led the pearl Cup to institute a game night, Davis says, and also reaffirmed her actions when she left little notecards on tables, requesting that patrons share their tables when the shop’s limited space grows crowded.

“I did not expect a positive response; I expected more of a harrumph,” Davis says. the fact that customers invited the change “is so awesome because you’re encouraging community even more.

“We couldn’t do this in just any neighborhood we’d have to have a drive–through in any other neighborhood in Dallas because I think convenience overrides the authentic experience.” the independent coffee shop versus the international Starbucks chain is a story that has received more than its share of press over the last few years. Whether to spend money at a mom-and-pop or a chain is a decision that neighbors will inevitably consider as they begin to think about living locally, but it’s not the main question of the Live Local east Dallas initiative, which has no intention of vilifying chains.

“We’re not trying to say that you can only do business with local companies, but instead we’re trying to promote the idea of doing business five miles from your house or place of work,” Starkey says. “Some of the major chains are giving back to the community just as much dollar-wise, and we don’t want to exclude them.” m ockingbird Station at Central e xpressway and m ockingbird is an example of a place where local and national retailers come together.

“We want to have a good mix of chain stores, but we also want to have the local boutiques, local restaurants, something different than the norm that you could >>