Who? Carla Jimenez and Maryann Ferenc, co-founders of the Tampa Independent Business Alliance.
Sphere of influence: Jimenez, owner of Inkwood Books, and Ferenc, owner of the Mise en Place restaurant, formed TIBA in 2004 to connect local, independent business in Tampa and market the benefits of shopping independently to area residents; since then, 150 establishments have joined. Ferenc also sits on the boards of Tampa Bay & Company (a local tourism organization), Tampa Downtown Partnership and Creative Tampa Bay. Jimenez is a board member of the American Independent Business Alliance, a national umbrella organization promoting independents.
How they make a difference: Through TIBA, Jimenez and Ferenc fight against the homogenization of Tampa. They organize two major outreach campaigns — Independents Week in July and America Unchained in November — to raise awareness. They also push the importance of investing in independents to city officials and tourism boards. Recently, they've networked with businesses in Sarasota and St. Petersburg to assist them in starting their own Independent Business Alliances.
CL: How has the state of Tampa Bay independent businesses changed since you founded TIBA?
Ferenc: This issue is on the short list of a lot of other people. It's even on the list of the development community, in that you'll see that some of our most successful developers are the ones who are addressing this "sense of place" issue. They need to build their communities in a way to involve the community and create this sense of place, because that's what real urban living is about.
It's on the minds of people from a commercial perspective, and it's on the short list of Creative Tampa Bay and Tampa Bay & Company, because they need to promote what's unique about Tampa — the personalities and businesses that create our cultural texture. The Downtown Partnership sees independents as the first ones that will come downtown, and indeed that's true.
Even in the Riverwalk committee, they're talking about making a proposal to open businesses along the Riverwalk. Well, the people they're going to turn to is independents. So, they reach out to our organization to float some of their ideas, to see what's realistic. So I think that is the biggest thing that has changed.
Jimenez: I think at the same time it's in the popular culture, the whole idea of localism. … It's really about protecting and keeping authentic what makes your place your place. What keeps Tampa, Tampa. From my perspective, the best selling nonfiction books of the year are things like Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. There's the proliferation of things like farmer's markets. There's a study I just heard quoted recently that when you go to a farmer's market you have 20 interactions with people. You have actual relationships. When you go to a big supermarket, you might have two, more likely to have one.
Even on the state level, the state tourism authorities have campaigned on small-town Florida, keeping that authentic and making that a tourist attraction. I think popular culture and the powers-that-be see this as something to pay attention to.
Is it harder to shop at local, independent businesses today than it was four years ago?
Ferenc: I don't think so. I think the local movement has done two things. I think it's kept some people around that might, otherwise, not have been. And I think it has given energy to some entrepreneurs who said, "I'm going to go ahead and do this. I'm going to open my store." I will say that you don't have the same hardware options that you used to.
What is the biggest misconception about independent businesses?
Ferenc: I think it's probably the consumer conception that it costs more at an independent, that chains are cheaper. And that it's not just a little bit [more expensive], but a big difference.
Jimenez: There are studies left and right that have poked holes in that. There was a Consumer Reports study that showed the cost of prescription drugs in independent pharmacies tends to be less than national chains. I think that's something people would be surprised to know about. … I think that books like the Big Box Swindle really show — not only on the individual or family basis, but in the terms of the cost to the community, in terms of the tax subsidies and special considerations into bringing in some outside business — if that money was spent locally with local independent businesses, it would be much better for the long run.
Ferenc: It's a hard message to get across to people as you walk down the aisle of a big box or chain store, and they've really delivered that message home to you, in a bunch of different ways, that they're cheap. They've claimed it so much, you don't even look to prove it anymore. You now accept it. So that's where you think you're going to have to go to spend your dollar in the best way. I think that misconception is hard to battle.
Is this issue bigger than just where you shop?
Ferenc: This local movement is so much bigger than just what we're doing. It's attached to so many different things. That's why it's gaining momentum right now.
Jimenez: So much of this is about community. … Again, when you start looking into these matters, there is so much to back up what we've anecdotally believed for a while. Studies that show that communities with strong locally owned independent businesses have less juvenile crime, have higher voting rates and some other kinds of values that make our community where we want to live. It all goes hand in hand. Do I want to have human contact? Do I want to have a conversation with someone who I'm doing business with, or do I want to listen to a script? It's really about quality of life in so many ways.
It reminds me — I'm sorry, it's all about books with me — of a book, The Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. This great book brings together all the kind of studies about how important it is that we have contact with nature. Just thinking of what we lose when we lose natural places, when we have too much sprawl and when we lose human contact with each other. It's one thing to use the Internet for its wonderful advantages, but when all we do is sit at a computer all day, we're really losing our humanness. Whether you shop at a chain or shop at an independent, you might think this doesn't have any relationship to that. But I think to those of us who are really involved and passionate about it, that's the point: it does have the relationship and we do see that connection. There's room in the world for national chains and there's room in the world for us. And I always try to suggest that people spend consciously. Just know the ramifications, know the choices you're making. As we say: Little choices add up to big dollars. If we just think about our choices when we're spending, it can make a huge difference to our community and our quality of life.
How does shopping at independents bring economic benefits to a community?
Jimenez: There have been a variety of studies — Austin, Chicago, Santa Cruz, Phoenix, Vermont and Maine — and they all come to about the same conclusions. One is that as much as 80 percent of the money that is spent in a national chain leaves town in the overnight deposit. Other studies have repeatably shown that every dollar spent in a locally owned independent circulates in the community an average of three times more than a dollar spent in a chain. Because of the repeated transactions and repeated collection of sales tax in our state, it's up to five times as much revenue for public projects, for first responders, for schools, for libraries, for our roads. When we spend our dollars, we're making choices about the quality of our children's education, about whether there's a park to go hang out in, about the cleanliness of our water and about all those other things that add up to our quality of life. …
When we opened Inkwood in 1991, we consciously chose to buy our fixtures from a local cabinetmaker. We could've had them imported from a lovely firm in Massachusetts, but we wanted our money to stay locally. When you shop at a national chain, their accountants are in New York or some other state. When I go to a local dentist, I'm spending money here; when the accountant who does the bookkeeping for a national chain goes to the dentist, it's not in Tampa. It just adds up. It adds up everyday and it adds up to huge, huge amounts toward our local economy.
How do independent businesses fit into issues like sprawl and sustainability?
Jimenez: I think independent businesses are naturally created in neighborhoods, as opposed to a huge block of empty land turned into a monstrous parking lot. I think they tend to be in more walkable areas, so that is one thing taking care of independent businesses can help a city to nurture and keep. In terms of sustainability, independent businesses tend to be more "green" and more conscious of [those issues]. I don't think you could point to a community where local independents contributed to sprawl. I just don't even think that's possible. And, of course, there are incidents all over where sprawl has been contributed to by big-box chain stores. So if you don't like sprawl, support your local independent businesses.
Can shopping independent be fun?
Jimenez: You know, my husband and I decided, before I opened the bookstore, that we would not eat at chains. Particularly when we traveled, it could be a little bit of a challenge, but I will never forgot the incredibly rich experiences that we have had, just by going the extra five miles off the interstate. We had just made a commitment not to eat at chains because it just simply wasn't something that we enjoyed. And so we decided we're not going to do it anymore. And our lives are richer for that decision, there's no question. And I've never turned back on that, it's really been a delightful part of our traveling experience.
What can the average Tampa consumer do?
Ferenc: Just make little choices. It really is about little choices. Each time you make a decision about your purchase, think about an independent. It can be something as simple as a gift card, lunch, a book — because all of those little choices will add up to a big economic and cultural impact. And if you make those little choices a habit, then you become an example for other people.
Jimenez: If you already buy into this, and if you already get it, and you're already a localist, then tell a friend. Help spread the word. Talk to people about why you make the choices that you make, why you go to this restaurant instead of another one.
Ferenc: And become a new community member of TIBA in our community member drive! And get 10 of your friends to do it!
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2008.