The Metro Independent Business Alliance (MetroIBA) invites the public to a talk by Stacy Mitchell, author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses (Beacon Press), at 7 p.m. Saturday, November 11, at the Weyerhaeuser Chapel on the Macalester College campus, 1600 Grand Avenue, Saint Paul. Mitchell’s talk will be followed by a reception and book signing from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the basement of the chapel. Admission to the event is $5.00 for members of sponsoring organizations and $7.00 for the general public.
Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement.Her investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania town's Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains.
"What Nickel and Dimed did for the Wal-Mart worker, Mitchell does for the community threatened by mega-retailers."
--Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
Stacy Mitchell is a regular speaker and advisor to communities on retail development and independent business. A senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, she chairs the American Independent Business Alliance and lives in Portland, Maine.
MetroIBA is a non-profit membership organization working to support and preserve locally owned, independent businesses in the Twin Cities region. Its three focus areas are to promote and support locally owned, independent businesses, educate consumers on the value of shopping at locals, and influence public policies that impact independent businesses.
Mitchell’s talk is co-sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 789. More information at www.metroiba.org, www.amiba.net, and www.newrules.org.