Austin Independent Business Alliance
P.O. Box 49545
Austin, TX 78765
About Us
The Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) was founded in 2002 by a group of concerned local businesses. Originally modeled after the Boulder Independent Business Alliance, AIBA seeks to preserve and support locally owned, independent businesses. We began with a room full of twenty local business owners interested in doing something about the containment of chain and big box retailers while providing a voice for independent business. Since that first meeting of activist souls, AIBA has grown to represent more than 300 independently owned businesses.
AIBA's greatest strength is its ability to speak for the interests of hundreds of locally-owned independent businesses. AIBA collaborates with public policymakers, community representatives and business leaders to devise and implement programs that will sustain local independent businesses and help them to grow and prosper. AIBA advocates on behalf of member businesses to address issues of common interest but we do so judiciously and only with the support of our board of directors. We address only issues that affect independent businesses and only to protect member interests in local, state and sometimes national affairs.
We do not endorse political candidates, engage in elective politics or lend our voice to issues that are not directly related to the business concerns of our membership. Our combined membership gives AIBA a strong collective voice that is heard locally through our efforts and across the nation through our active participation in the American Independent Business Alliance.
MISSION
The Austin Independent Business Alliance works to promote locally owned businesses and speak to the concerns of independent business. Our mission is to shift more dollars to locally owned independent businesses by helping shoppers make fully informed decisions by recognizing the full value that locally owned independent businesses provide to our community. The value includes, but is not limited to, serving local customers' tastes and owners' preferences, spending profits locally instead of exporting them to distant corporate headquarters, carrying a higher percentage of locally made goods, and providing unique goods and services that contribute to the nature and character of Austin.
GOALS
To help locally owned independent businesses flourish, AIBA will work to raise awareness of the power of consumer purchasing decisions, publicize the full value offered by independent businesses, and shift consumer spending to AIBA member businesses by:
Increasing community awareness of the value of doing business with locally owned independent businesses through editorials, broadcast interviews, cooperative advertising, presentations to civic groups, and other promotional efforts.
Marketing member businesses to the public through the AIBA Membership Directory and a web site that provide an easy way to find AIBA businesses that sell needed goods and services.
Building critical brand-name recognition through the AIBA name and logo, cooperative promotions, discounted advertising rates with participating local media, and group purchasing.
Building rapport with key media and government officials to make future reporting and local policies more responsive to the needs of locally owned independent businesses.
Working cooperatively with government officials when laws or government plans threaten the interests of Austin's locally owned independent businesses.