Bloomberg Businessweek Profiles Cities that Restrict Chains to Free More Space for Local Businesses

Date: 26 Jan 2018 | posted in: Media Coverage, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A piece by Nick Leiber explores how cities are using caps on “formula” retailers to ensure that local businesses have ample opportunities to secure space and grow. … Read More

In Jersey City, a Policy Fosters Local Independent Businesses

Date: 14 Dec 2017 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In downtown Jersey City, a familiar story is playing out: Independent business owners have helped foster neighborhood growth, and now, chain stores are interested in sweeping in with their own locations. What’s different in Jersey City is that the city has taken proactive steps to check this common cycle, and instead, build a model that allows for more opportunity for local entrepreneurs.… Read More

Watch San Francisco’s AnMarie Rodgers on How the City’s Formula Business Policy Works

Date: 5 Dec 2017 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In this 30-minute talk, AnMarie Rodgers, Senior Policy Advisor in the City of San Francisco Planning Department, breaks down the nuts-and-bolts of San Francisco’s pioneering formula business ordinance. She talks about how the city implemented the policy, how it works and how well it works — and what advice she has for other cities that want to do it too.… Read More

San Francisco Breaks the Chain Stores, Strengthens Neighborhood Economies (Episode 31)

Date: 19 Oct 2017 | posted in: Building Local Power, Podcast, Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

San Francisco has one-third as many chain stores as the national average. That’s thanks in large part to a city ordinance that restricts “formula” businesses. We talk with AnMarie Rodgers, senior policy advisor to the city’s planning department, about how the city implemented the policy, how it works, and what advice she has for other cities that want to do it too.… Read More

ILSR’s Testimony at New York City Hearing on Retail Diversity and Neighborhood Character

Date: 10 Oct 2016 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

At a recent New York City Council hearing, ILSR submitted testimony examining the importance of locally owned businesses to the City, the crisis affecting them, and examples of effective and proven policy strategies to level the playing field for these businesses.… Read More

Faulty Study Ignores Small Business Benefits

Date: 5 Mar 2014 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last month, San Francisco’s Office of Economic Analysis issued a new study concluding that the city’s policy restricting the spread of chain stores is harming the local economy. But the OEA’s sweeping conclusion rests on bad data and a deeply flawed analysis that misses many of the benefits of independent business. In this article for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, we detail exactly how the study gets it wrong.… Read More

How San Francisco is Dealing With Chains

Date: 30 Aug 2012 | posted in: Retail | 6 Facebooktwitterredditmail

San Francisco is home to more independent businesses than other big cities, thanks in part to a 2006 law than gives neighborhoods the power to reject “formula” retail stores and restaurants. But the policy has major gaps, which have opened the way for chains to slip into the city. City leaders are now looking to beef up the law. … Read More

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