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The People's Store - Locally Owned is more Resilient!

Saying no to big-box retail, residents of Saranac Lake NY, raised the capital and community buy-in to open their own department store. Wal-Mart had plans to move to town, now the resident-owned store keeps investment and shopping experience local. A NY Times story and another by a local paper outline the development and decision-making process behind the creation of the Saranac Lake Community Store.  The town's local department store had gone bankrupt in 2002 and shortly after, Wal-mart proposed to take its place. Inspired by other community-owned stores in the West of the U.S. and the U.K., residents organized to create their own department store using a private business model.  Shares were priced at $100 each and an average of 600 investors chipped in $800 each to reach the $500,000 initial investment goal.  By cultivating small-scale, local investment from the same people who now shop at the store, there is a broad base of residents who have a deepened sense of ownership and commitment to  their town's economy and future growth.  This case study offers transferable and scaleable lessons to revitalize and localize shopping districts in the U.S. and in towns and cities in other parts of the world.  It also proves that even in a climate of recession and austerity, a large group of small investors can scale up their contributions to significantly impact their local economy.

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