About SEA

History

The SouthEastern Alliance, a Wave of Local Independent Businesses, (SEA) was founded in May 2009 by the owners of Bank Square Books, an independent bookseller since 1990. Bank Square Books is owned by Annie Philbrick and Patience Banister, two women who have lived in the area for over twenty years.  The store is located in downtown Mystic, CT and serves as a strong community base for local residents. Their motto is locally owned and fiercely independent.  Annie has served on the Advisory Council for the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) for two years and is now their Vice President.

The owners of Bank Square Books joined AMIBA, the American Independent Business Alliance of Bozeman, Montana and sponsored a presentation by AMIBA Director Jeff Milchen in Mystic, Connecticut in May 2009.  Milchen presented a two part educational seminar for interested members of the local business community and individuals.  Approximately 25 people attended this event. The seminar was a success and resulted in several more meetings during which SEA was formed. Next we selected officers, mapped out a territory, (from Groton, Connecticut to Westerly, Rhode Island) and decided on a name.   The group then solicited and received the working partnership of the other independent bookseller in the outlined territory, and The Other Tiger bookseller in Westerly, Rhode Island became a working partner.  (The Other Tiger opened in 2003 to meet the stated need in Westerly for “a great downtown bookstore.” For three years in a row, The Other Tiger was named “Best Independent Bookstore” by Rhode Island Monthly magazine. The Other Tiger partner Robert Utter currently serves on the American Booksellers Association’s Booksellers Advisory Council.)  Closely following the creation of this partnership the website was launched, and we established a dues structure with a minimum introductory commitment of $50 per business.  We then sent a representative into the business community to get membership commitments from local business owners.

Mission Statement

SEA’s mission is to maintain its community’s unique character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, build economic strength, and prevent the mass displacement of community-based businesses by chains and big box stores.  SEA promotes a healthy and diverse local business climate through education, advocacy, and collaborative publicity.  SEA’s principal function is to educate our communities about the value of choosing locally owned and independent businesses first. We aim to achieve this by educating locals and visitors to our region to spend their dollars in local and independently owned businesses as often as possible.  To accomplish this goal we will create a highly visible campaign to communicate the virtues and benefits of buying local and to clearly identify our local independent businesses for consumers with a shared logo which will be featured in informational campaigns illustrating why buying local is vital for the community, the environment and the economy.

Goals

SEA’s goal is a vibrant local economy, with distinctive communities served by independent businesses that retain revenues within the region and contribute to the local quality of life.

SEA would like to launch a major media campaign to educate consumers of the many benefits to supporting locally-owned, independent businesses.  We plan to create stickers, posters, and other visual media for participating businesses and individuals to help them communicate our message.  In 2010 we plan to publish 2500 copies of a directory of local and independent businesses and make them available throughout the region. We also plan to lobby local and state lawmakers to help local and independently owned businesses and inspire local journalists to cover the movement in depth.  We received our first bit of press from the locally-owned, independent newspaper which serves our region, The Day.

Legal Status

We are fiscally sponsored by AMIBA which is a 501(c) 3 organization and we have filed with the State of Connecticut as a non-profit corporation.  We have a steering committee of eight members who serve our community in a variety of ways-publishing, sales, web design, retail, banking and others.  Our bank affiliation is with Chelsea Groton Bank.

Membership Criteria

South Eastern Alliance membership is open to any business that is majority-owned and operated by Groton, Mystic, Stonington and Westerly, Rhode Island residents whose owner(s) live within a 50-mile radius of their business and who have independent decision making authority over how the business is operated. In addition, we encourage any residents or non-profit organizations located in the covered communities to join as well. SEA is a collaborative organization and anyone with an interest in promoting our mission is welcome.