Stacy Mitchell loves Detroit entrepreneurs

When it comes to small businesses, Stacy Mitchell's a believer. She's an independent retail advocate who authored Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses and the senior researcher at the Institute of Local Self-Reliance, which advocates for entrepreneurs. She was in town recently to meet some of our own local retailers, and left with a positive appreciation for Midtown and our own buy local movement.

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There are some things, Mitchell says, business owners can do to bolster their position. The first is to form an independent business alliance. She points a group in Austin, TX as a model.

Entrepreneurs should also try to own the spaces they occupy. That way, they can't be priced out of the very communities they helped revitalize. Michigan governments can also help by simply keeping their accounts with appropriate community banks, thus increasing the capital available for small business lending.

Read Jeff Wattrick's story (he's really been killing it of late) on Mitchell here.