the civic economics of retail

civic economics is an economic-analysis and strategic-planning consultancy, with offices in austin and chicago. since its founding in 2002, the firm’s performed a series of case studies in cities across the country — austin, chicago, san francisco — in an attempt to assess the economic impact of local, independent businesses versus chain retailers.

in 2004, they performed a study (available for download in full below) of andersonville, il, a north-side chicago neighborhood.

this is markedly less than an executive summary, but the results were as follows:

across the board, independent businesses exceeded their chain competitors in the “four primary components” of local economic impact: percentage of revenue spent on local labor; percentage of profit remaining in the city; the rate of procurement of local goods and services; and the percentage of contributions to local charities and fund-raisers.

for every $100 spent at a chain retailer, $43 remained in the local economy; if that same spending occurred at an independent business, that value jumped to $68.

for every square foot of space occupied by a chain retailer, the local economic impact was $105; if a local firm occupied that same space, the impact jumped to $179.

the results built upon findings first found in a 2002 in austin, replicated later in maine’s mid-coast region and toledo, oh, and most recently in 2007 in san francisco: local, independent businesses generated on average three times as much local economic activity as chain retailers, adjusted for revenue, in each case.

download the study here.

pecha kucha with a culinary twist?

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
SLIDELUCK POTSHOW

FEAST OF ART AND FOOD AT WEXNER CENTER; DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS JULY 23

The Wexner Center is now accepting submissions for the Slideluck Potshow, a nationally recognized event that combines a family-style potluck dinner with a slideshow of work by artists from around the state. This free event will take place at the Wexner Center on August 3 at 6:30 pm. These lively and free-flowing events feature a potluck—dishes that audience members bring to share—and a juried “slideshow” (actually a digital slideshow) with selected artists giving short presentations discussing their work. The deadline for submissions on Monday, July 23. A wide range of artists will be selected for the show. Complete details on how to submit work for consideration are at www.wexarts.org/slideluck.

Slideluck Potshow is a nonprofit organization that mounts similar presentations several times a year in New York, and has recently begun to take the concept on the road—to Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, and several other cities. The last Potshow in New York attracted 800 people. More information on the Slideluck Potshow available at www.slideluckpotshow.com.

here comes your weekend 2

THIS saturday, june 30th
1 pm – midnight
surly girl saloon parking lot (next to goody boy)
FREE and ALL-AGES

all $ from food & beer tents benefiting columbus music co-op’s new emergency-assistance fund for local musicians!

Band line-up:

terribly empty pockets 3 p.m.
the exceptionals 3:45 p.m.
sweatheart 4:30 p.m.
good company 5:15 p.m.
earwig 6 p.m.
the patsys 6:45 p.m.
preston furman 7:30 p.m.
the lindsay 8:30 p.m.
buffalo corpse 9:30 p.m.
the means 10:15 p.m.

helen lafrance @ lindsay gallery, 6/15

a lonely crowd

catch an advance, “pay-what-you-can” preview of available light’s new production, a lonely crowd, at 8:00 pm tonight at the columbus dance theatre. opens friday.

short north gala

sunday, june 17th
6:00 – 12:00

greek orthodox cathedral
555 n high st

summertime

this is wholly off-topic, but it’s HOT and it’s a three-day weekend and we feel like waxing nostalgic, so in observation of the unofficial start of summer, here’s the unofficial soundtrack from ‘06:

dj eleven: summer madness

one track, 80 minutes, 36 jukebox jams from yesteryear. eleven’s all over the map here, genre-wise — r & b to reggae to ’90s hip-hop and beyond — but you’ll find he mostly keeps it together with panache.

rating: essential

1. Sam Cooke “Summertime”
2. Bob Marley “Sun Is Shining”
3. Devin The Dude “Lacville 79”
4. The Isley Brothers “Summerbreeze”
5. The Originals “Sunrise”
6. Freddie Hughes “Sarah Mae”
7. Ahmed “Back in the Day”
8. Quincy Jones “Summer in the City”
9. Outkast “West Savannah”
10. Main Source “Just Hanging Out”
11. Smokey Robinson “Cruisin”
12. EWF “Sun Goddess”
13. Hi-Tek & Common “Sun God”
14. Wiiliam Devaughn “Be Thankful For What You Got”
15. Brand Nubian “Wake Up (Reprise in the Sunshine)”
16. Commodores “High on Sunshine”
17. De La Soul “Sunshine”
18. Naughty By Nature “Feel Me Flow”
19. Eugene “Here Comes The Sun”
20. Kool & the Gang “Summer Madness”
21. Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince “Summertime”
22. Beyonce & Ghostface “Summertime”
23. Pete Rock & CL Smooth “Take You There”
24. Bill Withers “Lovely Day”
25. Blackbyrds “Dreaming About You”
26. Sade “Kiss Of Life”
27. De La Soul “Pass the Plugs”
28. Raphael Saadiq “Skyy, Can You Feel Me?”
29. War “Summer”
30. Digital Underground feat. 2Pac “Same Song”
31. Osibisa “Sunshine Day”
32. Stevie Wonder “A Place in the Sun”
33. Marvin Gaye “Got To Give It up”
34. Bob Marley “Is This Love?”
35. Sanchez “Here I Am”
36. Roy Ayers “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”

asparagus, artichoke & ginger ale

thirsty?

been to the new northstar so much since we’ve been back i think kevin’s getting sick of us. a little too convenient? nah — more like we’re real lazy. but it’s a pleasant stroll through the ravine after a full day’s work.

in additon to the homemade ginger ale (pic courtesy of bryan fenstermacher) which is offered at a higher price point here due to the substitution of bottled pellegrino for soda water, they’ve been featuring a couple specials recently, subject to availability:

an asparagus side of sorts, which i haven’t tried yet;

and an artichoke appetizer, perfectly grilled, with a delectable remoulade that, in the vexing parlance of our times, might be regarded as ‘off the chizzle?’ worth the price of admission, times two.

it’ll be interesting to see how relaxing it is outside with close proximity of 35-mph traffic once the patio furniture arrives…

lastly, that double-chocolate truffle. it’s neither new nor exlusive to the clintonville location; in fact, the restaurant widow’s already written about it with trademark erudition (and accompanying pictures that often border on the perverse; i hesitate to invoke gastroporn because of the connotation, but i do so in admiration of her work), but goddamn is it good! the baked goods are always time-stamped, and even when a couple hours have passed since baking, the chocolately insides are gooey without fail. i’m going to go out on a limb here and say these are the best cookies in columbus…

…and talk about filling a niche, how about this juicy tidbit regarding a favorite restaurateur of ours, from this week’s other paper:

Tip Top Kitchen is less than a week old, but Lessner already has her eye on Clintonville for her next project.

“We look at what the neighborhoods need,” she said. “We’re just filling a niche.”

righto! more on the tip top next.