In our capitalistic society, the tendency is to find the best deal, spend the least amount of time and avoid the most complications. But are we better for it? A group of neighborhood businesses has banded together to challenge residents to change their mindsets about how we do business, with hopes that the process will change both our lives and our neighborhood.
What is “local”?
It’s a popular word these days, finding its way into promotional materials and onto retail labels. Food is “grown locally”, products are “made locally”, and vendors “reside locally”.
But what does that actually mean? Like other trendy terms, such as “green” and “organic”, the meaning is based on who is doing the defining. (How else to understand a bottle of chemically-infused cleaning solution on a grocery store shelf that advertises itself as “eco-friendly”?)
In a large metropolitan area like Dallas, does “local” refer to anything within the city’s 342.5 square miles, or does the definition hit closer to home — down the street and around the block?
Perhaps it’s a question of impact: If a mom-and-pop shop west of the Tollway shuts its doors, neighbors here might not notice. But when a longstanding East Dallas business such as Lower Greenville’s The Ole Moon goes under, the loss is felt. And that becomes the greater issue — not simply how to define “local” but also what it looks like for each person to support his or her local community.
Does it mean shopping at Dallas retailers instead of online so that sales taxes will benefit the neighborhood library branch? Eating at a longtime neighborhood establishment once a week to help it stay in business? Buying groceries at Tom Thumb because the rewards card program provides a percentage of the money spent to a neighborhood school or nonprofit?
A few neighborhood businesspeople are launching a Live Local East Dallas initiative to encourage neighbors to ask themselves these sorts of questions, in hopes that it will change the way they think and, ultimately, how they choose to do business.
The idea sprouted from a lunch conversation between Elaine Starkey and MaryBeth Shapiro, who work at Republic Title of Texas on Gaston near Abrams. Starkey was expressing her frustration to Shapiro about real estate agents from North Dallas, McKinney and other communities listing and selling property in our neighborhood. It’s happening because properties up north and in the suburbs aren’t turning over as quickly, and agents know they can make a quicker buck here, Starkey says, but it takes business away from agents who live here and know the neighborhood better.
“If we stopped and thought about it, we probably would choose local business, but we never stop and think about it, and go wherever our habit is to go. So we want to try to create an awareness that there’s a reason to choose local business on all levels,” Starkey says.
“Who doesn’t like the idea of walking into a store and you’ve been there so often that the people working there recognize you? I think Lakewood and East Dallas have the potential to be that kind of community.”
The whole point is “blooming where you’re planted instead of feeling like you have to go to the Galleria,” Shapiro says. “Nothing against the Galleria, but it’s about trying to slow down and exist in the unique little community we live in.”
The mom-and-pop shops and local business owners are what make our neighborhood unique, she says. “If we don’t support the shops that are right around us, and they go out of business, we become just like every neighborhood that doesn’t have the unique landmarks.”
Embracing our neighborhood and its diversity is a philosophy Elizabeth Mast has taken to heart since the day she opened her Lakewood Shopping Center boutique, Talulah Belle. Mast’s store has built a reputation as a place that welcomes wares from local craftspeople. On her shelves, shoppers can find items such as Child perfume, made by Casa Linda resident Susan Owens, or “inspirellas” — umbrellas printed with inspirational messages, from neighbor Gina Controneo. One of Talulah Belle’s former products, cake balls made by Lochwood resident Robin Ankeny, have grown so popular that Ankeny now sells them from The Cake Ball Co. storefront on Northwest Highway.
Occasionally someone stops in Talulah Belle with a creative product but still needs a good business plan, and Mast says she and other neighborhood shop owners view it as a chance to mentor a budding local entrepreneur. Supporting local businesses “doesn’t just mean retail,” Mast says, emphasizing that support is especially important in times like these “when a lot of people have lost their jobs and are branching out in new endeavors.”
Plus, it benefits her business to carry products made locally, Mast says.
“They bring a little bit about their life and what they’re doing, and it always has a story behind it,” she says.
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 mom-and-pop retail space, says Rita Davis, co-owner of The Pearl Cup. She and 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.”
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. 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.
“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.”
Mockingbird Station at Central Expressway and Mockingbird 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
find wherever you go,” says Pam Baker, Mockingbird Station general manager.
This philosophy results in restaurants such as Urban Taco from Dallas entrepreneur Marcus Pineyro sitting a few storefronts down from national clothing chains Gap and Urban Outfitters.
Having both types of stores is good for everybody’s business, Baker says.
“Although chain stores can have a little bit better financial position, we like to keep that local flavor because we think we’ll have increased traffic here at the property by having local stores.”
Chains also can have a different purpose than independently owned businesses, Smith says. National banks offer efficient website banking and an ATM on every corner, whereas a community bank like Professional is geared for small businesses investors who want a banking relationship, he says.
“At national banks, a banker might leave because he got a promotion or rotated to another location,” Smith says. “Here, when you walk in, everybody knows your name.
“It sounds trite, but if you have a problem, you can talk to somebody face to face and have a relationship with someone who can be your banker for 20 years.”
Recognizing the value in both is one of the reasons Smith is backing the Live Local East Dallas effort.
“I like the inclusiveness of it,” he says. “It’s not about saying, ‘You’re a local business, and you’re not’ — it’s about doing business in your community.”
“To me, it’s just making a pledge,” Shapiro says. “I’m going to try to go to a new shop in Lakewood that I haven’t been to, or eat one time in a restaurant I haven’t visited. I’m going to try to support Ace Hardware [on Gaston] before I jump in my car and go across town somewhere else.
“This is really just a frame of mind.”
Live Local East dallas
sustaining partners
1) Republic Title
2) Professional Bank
3) Times Ten Cellars
4) Blow Salon
6) Greenway Investment Company
7) T-Shop
8) Diener Mills Building
10) Gizmo Group
11) Advocate Magazines
