Vote with dollars

On November 4, the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce expressed opposition to Mayor Kruzan’s hope for an ordinance restricting the number of chain and formula-based restaurants on Kirkwood Avenue and the Courthouse Square, potentially banning chain stores from opening in those areas.

It was to be expected.

Kruzan’s plan raises many difficult issues pertaining to its applicability, such as which businesses would be considered a chain and whether they’d be forbidden entirely or simply be limited in square footage.

But the most pressing question is still unanswered – why legislate where people can and cannot shop?

Bloomington has a complicated relationship with its Kirkwood stores. It relies on national brands to promote development, create jobs and offer desired services, but many in the community fear the presence of non-local businesses threaten some greater community identity. It’s clear, though, that these vocal opponents recognize they are the minority.

If anyone really believed that the people of Bloomington wanted to limit chain stores on Kirkwood, no law would be necessary.

Undesirable establishments would simply be shunned and driven out of business, and the matter would resolve itself. Chipotle’s land used to house a McDonald’s, which closed its doors a long time ago, and the Kirkwood area hosts a dizzying array of competing coffee shops – some of them local, some of them not.

The problem is that this minority opposition to national chains (and the idea of economic freedom) is much more vocal than the thousands of people who value the ability to choose where they buy a burrito or cup of coffee.

No one is going to hold up a picket sign defending rights to Starbucks, and “I enjoy frequenting whichever establishment I deem most attractive on a given day” isn’t a catchy slogan.

Moreover, chains don’t have the sort of active voice in Bloomington politics that so-called local businesses do, and moves to limit competition in Bloomington seem more like pandering to special interests than a genuine desire to increase the public welfare. The idea that so-called local businesses are economically preferable to chains is a marketing slogan, not a sound argument.

Buying local keeps your money in the community only insofar as it stays in the register until the owners pay for a shipment of food from California or furniture from Maine. Then it spreads out across the nation and then the world. The jobs would go to local workers regardless.

There’s a perverse tendency to over-romanticize the idea of local businesses or to place in them a sense of identity.

A great deal of that feeling comes from these very local businesses, who work tirelessly to convince Bloomington residents that their town’s soul would die if not for the shops that line Kirkwood – as if where you buy your socks is part of some noble, sacred trust.

Opposing free economic entry on Kirkwood is more an obedience to than a refutation of Bloomington’s commercialization; it forgets that Bloomington’s essence is in its parks and its people, not in its pizza joints.


DISSENT Protecting local establishments can be worth it.

While it’s hard to support or disagree with Mayor Kruzan’s wish to restrict chains and formula-based restaurants in specific areas of Bloomington since he hasn’t yet revealed an actual proposal, we shouldn’t be so quick to go along with the Chamber of Commerce and prematurely dismiss protection for local establishments.

While admittedly citizens of Bloomington can “vote with their dollars” and hypothetically markets can determine what restaurants – local or not – citizens really want, there are underlying factors that can work against local establishment and make protection necessary.

College students, who contribute large amounts of money to the Bloomington economy and are more apt to visit chain establishments, only spend four years here; this is neither enough time to grow to love local establishments the way residents do nor to have substantial concern about what happens to the town once they graduate.

Moreover, local businesses are often more expensive to start up and operate than chains, meaning that even if citizens “vote” dollar to dollar, Panda Express might triumph over Z&C Teriyaki.

Lastly, there’s a real social benefit to be had by the entire community of living among a plethora of local establishments. Restaurants are undoubtedly part of the culture, and our local dining scene sets Bloomington apart from Anytown Suburbia, USA.

The collective benefit that we all share, residents and students alike, from a unique town with local flare can sometimes trump a freshman’s desire for Dunkin’ Donuts.

Mayor Kruzan isn’t saying we should ban chains everywhere in Bloomington – just that protecting Bloomington’s unique areas might be worth sacrificing a future Kirkwood Taco Bell. We should hear his proposal out.

-Ashley Ames