Searching for Indie America

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Where did you find the strongest sense of community?

Hosein: The climax of the film was in Powell, Wyo., which is about 75 miles from the highway. They used to have chain retail, until the economy went downhill and the population dwindled to 10,000. So rather than driving 75 miles to get to the closest Wal-Mart (WMT), the town essentially started its own store. It's not a co-op—it's a for-profit department store called The Merc. It opened up a few years ago, and has evolved into a successful model of community-run retail that a lot of other communities around the country are striving to emulate.

What will happen if people don't support independent retailers?

Hosein: We found out that independent stores provide an incredible level of retail diversity that corporate chains just don't. When Wal-Mart comes in and is so dominant and powerful that they can put a lot of smaller retailers out of business, they're also carrying a certain type of product, book, or CD that suits its mass-produced policies or personal ideology and philosophy. That limits the civic discourse in a democracy. A lot of people believe that if you don't have retail diversity, the health of the democracy is threatened.

Hughes: Many times, department stores give to charity, but they're not engaging on that local level. I can't tell you how many independent business owners told us stories about how the same person will come by every day, and the owner will give them a cup of coffee and a couple of dollars in exchange for washing the windows or something. Communities lose that when the retail sector is dominated by big boxes.

How should small businesses and entrepreneurs view growth?

Hosein: I think it's a big paradox that the three corporations we decided to focus on—Borders (BGP), Starbucks, and Wal-Mart—were all originally mom-and-pops, and their vision was obviously far greater than being a sustainable small business in their town, and I commend that. But not everyone needs to go for 10,000% growth over five years, especially if they're not a publicly traded company.

What are the best ways for small businesses to promote community cohesiveness?

Hosein: There are two ways that communities have tried to address the issue. One is by organizing public campaigns to convince people to buy local. There has been a more coercive way, where towns have passed laws to keep big boxes out of their town. Independents need to be involved in city council meetings, to make sure they're not railroaded by corporate chains that are looking for tax handouts to come into their towns and take over retail space.

Hughes: There also seem to be more community-based organizations like Business Alliance for Living Local Economies (www.livingeconomies.org) and American Independent Business Alliance (www.amiba.net) that help communities fight the big boxes by giving them templates to follow.

Other than the things we talked about, what are some creative ways for independent retailers to stand out?

Hosein: There have been some studies that show independents in hardware can often outdo Home Depot (HD) in prices. I think it really comes down to communicating the message about the service they offer and the relationship they offer. For the most part, customers can get a better diversity in products at smaller stores. Independents just need to do a better job of communicating that.

What's good about the chains?

Hosein: Independent businesses sometimes rely on corporate chains. We didn't condemn corporate chains in our film. We met a lot of people who said they go to Sam's Club to buy cups, since Sysco (SYY) won't serve them because they're too small. There are relationships between independents and corporate chains that you can't deny.

We're more looking for the healthy balance where the corporate chains don't become the dominant institution or retailer in a town, because that really does kill the balance of what you need to have a thriving democracy.

Jeffrey Gangemi is a freelance writer based in Mendoza, Argentina.