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Independent businesses find new way to battle big boxes

Suzie Johnson enjoys the quality of life and uniqueness of Bozeman, but for her it’s not just about the fresh air and mountains.

It’s also about the locally owned businesses.

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL, Chronicle Staff Writer

Three years ago, she said, she and her husband decided to try to buy 80 to 100 percent of their goods from local, independent businesses.

"Dave and I wanted our experience of living in the Gallatin Valley to be different than living in ‘Anywhere USA,’" she said. "We know that the mountains make the Gallatin Valley special, but we also wanted to ensure that it didn’t become ‘Anywhere USA’ as a shopping experience."

Now Johnson is involved in the new Gallatin Valley Independent Business Alliance, a nonprofit group geared toward helping locally owned businesses survive and compete against national retailers moving into town.

"Our community is blessed with a healthy foundation of unique, independently owned businesses, but the displacment of these businesses by national chains is a growing danger," Johnson said.

"With a concerted and adequately funded long-term effort, we know we can keep the Gallatin Valley home to an abundance of independent, locally-owned businesses and maintain our unique character."

Just last week the Bozeman City Commission agreed and supported the effort with $25,000. The money is from funds collected from Home Depot and Wal-Mart meant to mitigate those stores’ impacts on the community, said Commissioner Marcia Youngman.

"We all supported it," Youngman said. "It’s a way of fulfilling that identified need to help small, locally based businesses thrive. It seems like a very logical use of some of the big-box dollars."

The alliance plans to create a "buy local" logo this fall that stores can display in their windows, said Kelly Wiseman, manager of the Community Food Co-op and a member of GVIBA’s steering committee.

Hopefully, he said, the logo will be out before the Christmas shopping season.

Along with the buy-local campaign, GVIBA plans to offer a mentoring service to locally owned businesses and eventually print a directory of its members.

Wiseman said business owners will be expected to pay to join GVIBA, but should be able to make up much of the fee in marketing costs.

The group also hopes to educate the community about the importance of buying locally.

"Money rolls around a lot more in the community when you buy locally," Wiseman said. "It’s often worth spending a little extra money if you want to preserve the community you live in."

Local business owners tend to hire local suppliers and other local companies when they need work done, he said.

Plus the managers typically stick around, whereas corporate employees move up within a company and leave town.

"I know a lot of these box stores give money back to the community in terms of donations, and that’s cool," Wiseman said. "We’re not trying to tear them down, we’re trying to build up the local businesses."

Kayley Mendenhall is at [email protected]

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2003/09/04/news/gavibabzbigs.txt

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