Shift Your Shopping, a holiday shopping campaign begun two years ago by local first groups in Cambridge and Somerville, Mass., is going national this year through a collaboration between AMIBA (American Independent Business Alliance) and BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), which together represent more than 150 local business alliances in the U.S. and Canada. Through its Web site, ShiftYourShopping.org, the group will provide businesses with access to resources from shop local campaigns around the country, including Plaid Friday, which Oakland, Calif., businesses developed as an alternative to a big box Black Friday.
Shift Your Shopping is intended to capitalize on data from the Institute for Local Self Reliance that found that independents in areas with buy local movements do significantly better than other locally owned businesses. According to the ILSR’s study for 2010, businesses in communities with buy local campaigns averaged a 5.6% increase over the previous year; other independents gained 2.1%.
“By shifting the focus of holiday shopping to locally owned, independent businesses, we can strengthen our communities and economy, create more jobs, and, equally important, enjoy more relaxed and rewarding experiences doing holiday shopping,” said AMIBA director Jennifer Rockne.
