Beth Lord re-evaluated her life, notably how she earned a living, when her brother died of a brain tumor at 32. She’d spent 15 years in marketing and sales. Now, she wanted a path that meshed professional talent with personal fulfillment.
In December, the Duluth resident opened the indie-pendent, a boutique in an alley off St. Charles Avenue in Virginia-Highland. She sells handmade, artistic wares made in the U.S. such as the Pigeon Toe ceramics line. Workshops and classes are offered in a studio.
Word-of-mouth and list servs have drawn the curious, but customer traffic since a February grand opening could be better. Much better.
“Things have been slow to get off the ground,” admitted Lord, a LaGrange native. “I am trying to remind myself that we are really new and young, and that these things take time. We appeal to a certain group of people, and I want this to be a neighborhood kind of place.”
On Saturday, Lord’s business received a boost of sorts when Cash Mob Atlanta dropped in to buy merchandise. It’s the local version of a trend that debuted in Buffalo and has been adopted in U.S. cities and abroad.
Do-gooders, drawn together by postings on Facebook and Twitter, meet at a designated spot then descend on locally owned stores. The mission is simple, direct and altruistic: Shop locally. Support retailers like the indie-pendent. Build community from within. Hard to argue with such intentions.
It’s an idea that’s been embraced by community activists (Occupy Movement supporters, for example), nonprofits and everyday people such as Alison Pierce Oxford, organizer of Cash Mob Atlanta. Naturally, some retailers could stand a good mobbing, given the economy. Nearly 40 percent of small businesses say declines in customer spending are one of the three most significant challenges to survival, according to USA Today. Cash Mobs can potentially move some merchandise, attract new customers and help market a business that lacks advertising dollars.
Saturday was International Cash Mob Day, with events planned in cities such as Atlanta and Toronto as well as countries such as Australia and the province of British Columbia. In Cleveland, a city where the trend originated, mobbers spent $9,000 in three hours at an organic food market, according to the Cash Mobs website.
Cash Mob Atlanta participants met at the corner of North Highland and St. Charles avenues. Each participant was to spend about $20. They arrived at the indie-pendent about 2 p.m. and shopped for about an hour, said boutique-owner Lord.
“They are just getting started here, but it was a pretty good crowd,” she told me. “I think it’s a fantastic idea. This can’t sustain a business, but just making people aware how important it is to keep money inside the community — that’s what is important about it.”
Beth Lord is owner of the indie-pendent.
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