Choose Local: July: Independents Month

Some quick details:

• • Independents Month is July.
  • Find downloadable logos and images here. 
  • Use Canva?  Check out our Proud Indie Local template, Indie Challenge template, and Independents Month Quote template.
  • View and download our press release and proclamation templates.
  • Adapt and post this Independent Month blog post.
  • Invite your community to take the Indie Challenge.
  • View social media examples. 
  • Add these hashtags to your posts: #chooseindielocal #independentsmonth #indiemonth.

• Anyone anywhere can get involved.

Making Ripples

From July 1 to July 31, our Independents Month campaign celebrates Indie Local (independent and locally owned businesses) and entrepreneurship.  Together, we urge our communities to take positive action and boost the ripple effects our neighborhoods, towns, and cities receive when we support our locally owned businesses.

Amplifying Our Work

We strive to amplify all local, statewide, national, and international networks’ efforts to promote Independents Month during July.

Sharing Inspiration

Month-Long Campaigns

• Indie Challenge (2024)
• Independent Retailer Month (2024)
  • How to Make the Most of Independent Retailer Month for Your Business and Community (2024) 
• Staycation Promotion – NH (2024)
• Independents Month – RI (2024)
• New #IndieWinch pocket map kicks off busy July celebrating Winchester’s independent businesses – Hampshire Biz News (UK – 2024) 
• Find Waldo Local | IndieBound.org (2024) 
• Indie Month – MI (2023)
• Indie Month Rock Hunt | Sustainable Connections (2022)
  • Think Local First by Celebrating Local Businesses With Independents Month in July – WhatcomTalk 
• https://www.tampa.gov/independents-month (2011)
• Upper Valley Adventures – Vital Communities (2022)
• Salisbury celebrates independents month with free shopping bags – UK (2021)
  • Successful Independents Month, but the work goes on – Salisbury BID  
  • Independents Month Flag

 

Week-Long Campaigns

• Independents Week – AMIBA 
  • Proclamation Template

  • Sample: Sample Sponsor Benefits Template

  • Sample: Business Promotion Ideas Handout

• Indie Week — Local First Arizona (2024)
  • Call to Action Cards (2023)
• Weekend of Local – OK (July 12 – 14, 2024)
• Independents Week – June 28 to July 4 – Shop Local Raleigh (2020)
  • Independents Week Campaign Ideas – Shop Local Raleigh (2022) 
• Press Conference – Dane Buy Local (2021)
• Independents Week – Local First Ithaca (2019)
  • Local First Ithaca 
• Independents Week – FRIBA (2012)
• Independents Week: Things to do in Durango for the week of 4th of July (2018)

 

Day-Long Campaigns

• I Love My Credit Union Day (July 26, 2024)
  • Giving | I Love My Credit Union 

 

Anti-Monopoly

• A Prime Time to Make Ripples (2024)
• Indies Take The Gold Campaign Assets | the American Booksellers Association (2024)
• Rhode Island Makes Ripples (2024)
• ABA Launches #TheFutureIsIndie Campaign To Counter Prime Day | the American Booksellers Association (2023)
  • Anti-Prime Day Campaign: The Future is Indie | the American Booksellers Association 
• ILSR: Amazon 
• “Amazon’s Grip is Crushing Us”: Stories and Testimonials from Amazon Sellers 
• Don’t Box Out Bookstores assets | the American Booksellers Association 
• #BoxedOut Campaign | IndieBound.org 
• Boycott Amazon Prime Day. Shop these alternatives instead

 

Multiplier Effect/Indie Impact Studies

• ABA Indie Impact Study Series

• New Research on the Economic & Carbon Impact of Shopping Local 
  • Images

 

Placemaking

• Placemaking Week – Vital Communities (2022)

 

Bringing Community Together

• Phoenix Independents Bowl (2024)
• Biz Trivia Night (2023) 
• Find Waldo Local (2022)
• Coffee Crawl | Sustainable Connections (2023) 
• Lemonade Stroll (2022)
• Main Spotlight: Using StoryWalks to Bring Reading and Fun Downtown (2021)
• Community Spotlight: Main Street Arkansas Coffee Trail Celebrates the Importance of Coffee Shops Downtown (2021)
• Caffeine Crawl – About   
• Future of Cities: Reimagining Public Space to Support Main Street Retail 
• The Brick Bar: Cleveland (2022)
• Goosechase Summer Creator Calendar (2022)
  • https://blog.goosechase.com/community-event-ideas-to-bring-people-together/ 
• The Great Scavenger Hunt – Victoria, BC Canada (2022)
  • The Great Scavenger Hunt – Victoria, BC Canada | Facebook 

 

Entrepreneurship/Small Business Success

• Research: How Entrepreneurship Can Revitalize Local Communities 
• Set Up Shop – Anchorage Community Land Trust 
• https://assets-002.noviams.com/novi-file-uploads/llf/LLF_Annual_Report_2022_Brochure_5_5x8_web.pdf?mc_cid=2138063bc7&mc_eid=0718033bd1 

 

Overcoming Challenges

• As Post-COVID Small Businesses Struggle, ACUs Offer a Viable Solution — Neighborhood Workshop  
• Urban Cipher 

 

Community Wealth-Building/Capital/Fundraising

• Community Capital Toolbox 
• https://democracycollaborative.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/new-era-for-cwb-final.pdf 
  • https://democracycollaborative.org/learn/publication/new-era-community-wealth-building 
• Patronicity 
• The Local Crowd Cooperative 
• Dane Buy Local Foundation 
• BetterWorld 

 

JOIN US EACH WEEKDAY (or celebrate other vital sectors in your community):

• July 22 – Launch Indie Local Business Sector Campaign

• July 23 – Newspapers and Media Providers

• • • Local News Initiative
    • NewsMatch 
    • American Journalism Project 
    • https://nonprofitquarterly.org/a-500-million-pledge-to-support-local-news 
    • Solutions for local news deserts
    • Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Media
    • Explore Your State – Do You Live in a News Desert? The Expanding News Desert 
    • About | Press Forward  
    • Lenfest Institute 
    • Local Live Local: Media 
    • Understanding Media Monopolies with Laura Flanders (Episode 45) – Institute for Local Self-Reliance
    • Small-Town Newspapers Face Change, Struggle, Opportunity  

• July 24 – Health and Wellness Providers

• • • The National Community Pharmacists Association 
    • https://www.wellnessequityalliance.com/ 
    • In The American Conservative: How a Rebirth of Independent Pharmacies Could Cure Rural Ills – Institute for Local Self-Reliance 
    • Shop Around for Lower Drug Prices – Consumer Reports 
    • https://www.ncpa.co/images/digest/2018-Digest-Web.pdf 

• July 25 – Food and Beverage Producers

• • • NATIONAL REFRESHMENT DAY – Fourth Thursday in July
    • Brewers Association   
    • Independent Organic Brands – Cornucopia Institute 
    • https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/?query=food%20producer&refinement%5Bcountries%5D%5B0%5D=United%20States&sortBy=companies-production-en-us 
    • https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/?query=beverage&refinement%5Bcountries%5D%5B0%5D=United%20States&sortBy=companies-production-en-us  
    • Main Street Business Insights: Creating Accessible and Welcoming Spaces with Tiffany Fixter, Brewability 
    • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jul/14/food-monopoly-meals-profits-data-investigation 

• July 26 – Community Banks and Credit Unions

• • • I Love My Credit Union
    • Move Your Money Campaign

• July 29 – Business Service Providers

• • • The Local Economy Solution – Chelsea Green Publishing 

• July 30 – Restaurants, Grocery Stores, and Markets

• • • https://www.instagram.com/p/C9h0B6wsZlF/?img_index=1 
    • https://www.nationalgrocers.org/grocers-impact-america/ 
    • https://medium.com/@dylanross464/the-importance-of-supporting-local-why-grocery-stores-matter-ab37f0f9d37c 

• July 31 – Energy Providers

• • https://ilsr.org/articles/report-advantage-local/