In the middle of an economic deep-freeze, individual Edmontonians have the power to warm up the economy by keeping dollars in the pockets and registers of local merchants, a world-renowned author says.
Michael Schuman, author of The Small Mart Revolution, will be teaching locals the importance of self-reliance and indie-businesses
“The more times a dollar circulates, the more income, wealth, and jobs are created,” he said.
The trend in the last decade in Alberta, and all over Canada, he said, is that shoppers are
choosing to go local — good news for home-grown business owners, who were previously shadowed by incoming big-box retailers.
Independent liquor store owner Ed Fong feels that while big-box chain stores can be found
everywhere, a legion of die-hard “localvores” peruse his aisles faithfully.
“People realize that if all the local independent businesses go under, the selection is going to go down, and the service is going to go down,” he said.
Schumann speaks today at the City Arts Centre from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and tomorrow at the U of A Telus Building from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
