Don't Forget the Little Guy

Yesterday (11/14/08) the Wall Street Journal published a front-page article headlined "Wal-Mart Defies Retail Slowdown."

Here is an excerpt:

"On Thursday, after a week of bad news from retailers such as Best Buy Co. and Starbucks Corp., Wal-Mart said earnings for the third quarter rose 9.8% while sales rose 7.5%. At stores open at least a year, sales rose 3%, twice as much as a year before, and far better than nearly every other U.S. retailer.
Behind the figures is a confluence of trends fueled by the downturn. As strapped consumers look for cheaper goods, and weaker retailers go out of business, Wal-Mart is using its unmatched economies of scale to drive down prices, undercut competitors and squeeze costs out of suppliers ever more dependent on the Bentonville, Ark., behemoth.
Indeed, the downturn is increasing Wal-Marts clout just as its dominance was being threatened by diminishing returns on its big-box expansion formula, more-selective consumers and a growing field of rivals. The company's size is now turning to its advantage: for every $1 spent in the last year on goods other than cars in the U.S., 8.2 cents went to a cashier at a Wal-Mart store or a Sam's Club, the company's membership warehouse chain, according to Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers."

This is not a post to complain about Wal-Mart, but rather one to encourage you reading this to try your best to continue supporting local businesses as we all try to navigate the uncertain economic future.

As consumers we have a tremendous amount of choice when deciding where to shop. How we make that decision as a society has a big impact on how our lives and cities look. I hope we all decide to enrich our lives and cities by directing our spending to local enterprise at a level sufficient to sustain local businesses through the current economic slump. Although there is a moderate 'premium' to buying local, I'm certain that, in the long run, the cost to our community of sustaining and maintaining a given local business is much, much lower than allowing it to fail and eventually start over.

Andrew Mwenda on African Aid

Andrew Mwenda is a journalist from Uganda who gave a brilliant talk before TED last September. I agree that his talk is, in his words, "like a miniskirt - short enough to arouse interest, but long enough to cover the subject."

Listen closely, he's got an accent.







His main point is that official aid to Africa should provide national governments with an incentive to focus investment among local entrepreneurs, as opposed to targeting primary health, education, and hunger. The idea is that the current aid arrangement entrenches a system of dependency among African governments and does little to really build wealth. If wealth is built through investing in entrepreneurship, an attitude of self-sufficiency will be created that will be infinitely more potent than continuing to pump dollars into government coffers.

As a bit of shameless self-promotion, that is precisely what fair trade does. We work with several organizations all over Africa that have developed successful businesses along the entrepreneurial model. The difference between what fair trade does and what Mwembe suggests is that fair trade's market exists overseas, whereas Mwembe supports the development of the local markets. But hey, we've got to start somewhere, and so far aid on the official level has yet to make much of a dent.

This would be a great excuse to write a letter to your congressman or senator. And while you're at it, ask them to pressure our city to lower sewage fees for downtown. This water bill is killing me!

Think Fair Chattanooga happened.

We were pleasantly surprised at the turnout. A teacher from David Brainerd HS made it an extra credit event for her environmental science class, which accounted for about half the room. But some people were actually there because of the flier and facebook.

Advertising events online and around town is a lot like throwing baseballs at a dunk tank in pitch (no pun intended) darkness. Looks like we hit the mark with this one.

It's encouraging. I think we'll be doing this some more. You know, when we have some free time to plan another one. Will and I were talking about the possibility of a film/book review series to take place during the spring school semester. Stay tuned.

I misspelled a five letter word...

...In a flyer that was distributed all over Chattanooga and the internet. And I'm the one who created it.

It would be one thing if the word were something like, "dystopia," but it wasn't. The word was "trade." As in, fair trade. The whole organizing principle of our business.

Apparently in Marketing, a good strategy is to turn negatives into positives. So to that end, I'd like to think of this limited-edition poster art as a collector's piece that is sure to appreciate in value significantly over the coming decades. Capture a little World Next Door history for yourself, and hang on to those fliers for our "fair tade awareness event" in the same safe you keep your most precious valuables.

Or, find out what "fair tade" is and spread awareness for it!

Robin Hood

This was an awe-inspiring event last year. Our very own E-Wray (that's Elizabeth Wray) spearheaded the effort last year, mobilizing the GPS student body to raise over $60,000 to fund the construction of a girls' school in rural Afghanistan.

It's happening again this year, and everybody seems to speculate that last year simply can't be matched. But public opinion won't stop things from moving forward. This year the fundraising will benefit the construction of an all-girls' charter school here in Chattanooga.

It's a weeklong festival on GPS' campus featuring all kinds of programming. We'll have several booths set up in the quadrangle selling fairly traded goods, and we'll be donating a large percentage of profit to the Robin Hood effort. E-Wray is consulting with Jency to get our part of the game together.

Technically Robin Hood is a GPS event, but anyone is welcome to come and support the intiative. It will take place Oct. 27-31.

Think Fair Chattanooga

October is Fair Trade Month. We're gonna do something about that.

We're teaming up with our friends at Main & Mocha to put on a small event. You want to read a marketing blurb? Thought you'd never ask...



Think Fair Chattanooga will be an evening of engaging Fair Trade with the eyes, mind, and taste buds.

Come in from the autumn chill for a hot cup of coffee brewed from fairly traded beans, and stay for a viewing of Buyer Be Fair: The Promise of Product Certification. This film takes the viewer around the globe to show how conscious consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling.

World Next Door will produce the event to be hosted by Main & Mocha, located in the Carter Center at the corner of Main Street and Market Street in Chattanooga's Southside district.

What: Think Fair Chattanooga
When: 7:00 PM Thursday, October 23
Where: Main & Mocha, 1463 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN
Why: For the poor, for Chattanooga, and for free coffee and chocolate!

The Grace Episcopal Bookstore

World Next Door now has another remote location -- Grace Episcopal Bookstore.

The official opening (or reopening, rather) was on September 21st. But I just now made it over there to take some pictures. Feast your eyes! Kim and Jency did a wonderful job of creating a bright, colorful, appealing display. They're quite good at it.

We worked with Dabney Carter at Grace to get everything set up, and we're excited to be there. We very much believe in mobilizing those who follow Jesus to engage and support fair trade in their community of faith. As ones who believe that God hates injustice, we're excited to partner with the American church to promote fair trade and its mission to combat injustice in the economic realm.

The Grace Bookstore is open Tuesday-Friday from 10:00-2:00, and Sundays 9:00-10:30 and 12:00-12:40. It is also open Wednesday evenings, 4:00-6:30. The church is located at the corner of Brainerd Road and Belvoir Road in Chattanooga.

Here's a small part of our section. We also occupy lots of shelf space and a couple windows.

Other items for sale in the bookstore include books of theology and Christian apologetics, as well as commentaries and more. Other gift items are offered, including hand-blown glass balls, wooden sculptures, and more.
There's a lounge area too, for anyone who wants to just hang out and enjoy the atmosphere and community.

We're excited to be there, and there's more in the works.

We're currently exploring a partnership with a coffee shop on Main St., one of Chattanooga's hottest spots for new development. More to come as things develop...

CultureFest was muy festivo!

Here are a few pictures from CultureFest. It was a great event. Sometimes (read: Riverbend) events are just lots of work. CultureFest, which took place Saturday, didn't feel like lots of work, even though we were there from 9 to 7. Coolidge Park is a great venue for things like this. Everybody goes there anyway, but to have tents and food and performances going on just adds to the already pleasant energy.

We sat at our little booth talking to folks, listening to the range of music coming from the stage, and smelling the awesome food. I had some chicken tikka masala and a samosa from the Curry Pot, Chattanooga's newest Indian restaurant. Jency had some Thai stir-fry, but I forget where it came from. Both were awesome.

We heard Chinese opera, Japanese taiko, a bilingual drama act, and lots more. The music closed with this Isreali drummer who displays complete ownership of his many instruments. Simultaneously.

Sales were good for us, and we got to connect with the great people at GoFish, who also had a booth. So all in all, a great day! Here are a few pictures...

Culture Fest - Saturday 9/27

Just a note to let everyone know that World Next Door will have a booth at CultureFest this Saturday! Coolidge Park, 11-7.

It's put on by our Arts and Education Council. Here's a line from their site...

"AEC Culture Fest is an annual celebration of the Chattanooga area's rich cultural diversity through music, dance, food, and fine arts."

Last year it was lots of fun. There was music, dancing, food... well, basically everything the AEC said. Anyways we really hope to see you there! Admission is free, and it's a great afternoon if you've got kids.

Good News from India

The following is an email we recently received from Mata Traders, one of the organizations we work with. It is always encouraging hearing good news from the other side of the world!

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Greetings to friends and customers,

Michelle and I have been working in India on Mata's Spring 09 collection for a month now, and I just wanted to check in and tell you all how it is going. Being in India reminds me of a postcard I got once at a museum in Germany, with a funny looking man in spectacles holding up a handwritten sign that says: "Everything is connected. The point is to know it and understand it." While we meet and get to know the women in India who make our clothing, YOU and your customers are actually the ones that make our work here possible. We thought it would be nice to share a little bit about these ladies, and to let you know how you are connected to making lives better in such a faraway place.

One particular story I'd like to tell is about Harshali. I met Harshali two years ago when she was a shy 17 year old with limited English speaking skills. At that time she was working as a helper at our Mumbai cooperative and we struck up a friendship on our shared path home after work. I was staying in an apartment close to the co-op, and Harshali's grandmother and sister were selling fish on the side of the road next to the apartment complex. After work at the co-op Harshali would help her grandma and sister until the small stand closed, at around 9 pm. Harshali is from Tamil Nadu, a state in the south of India, and her parents died when she was very young, leaving her and her younger brother and sister behind, with only her grandmother to fend for them. Joining the millions of others who comprise Mumbai's enormous migrant workforce, Harshali's grandmother decided to emigrate to the big city in the hopes of finding work to support her two granddaughters. Two years ago Harshali had just started work at the co-op. Soon after she was able to afford to send both her younger siblings to school, as well as start a college economics course. Now she is an assistant to one of the co-op's designers and oversees all sampling work, and is just about to graduate her program. She dresses smartly, in cute matching salwar suits that show her evolving fashion taste, and speaks English well, with the confidence of a young professional woman. I believe she is on her way to becoming a designer herself someday, and I know that without her work at the co-op she could very well still be selling fish on the side of the road with her grandma and elder sister.

India as a whole is not a society that encourages social mobility. Economic brackets are enforced by caste lines, and like most industrializing nations, the poverty class is growing as the rural poor migrate from villages to mega-cities to find new kinds of work. The opportunities for economic advancement that fair trade organizations offer to women in poverty are truly a rarity. Being a part of the fair trade community means that we are ALL connected to this positive change.

Working on Spring 09 clothing!
Harshali at work