Stacy Mitchell

Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the New Rules Project and directs its initiative to curb the power of big-box retailers and strengthen locally owned businesses.

Mitchell has served as an advisor to numerous community and small business organizations, and has helped dozens of cities and towns implement new land use and economic development policies. An engaging speaker, Mitchell has given presentations at many national conferences and public forums.

Her latest book, Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses (Beacon Press, 2006), has appeared on several top-ten lists and was described by Bill McKibben as "the ultimate account of the single most important economic trend in our country."

In addition to her work with the New Rules Project, Mitchell chairs the American Independent Business Alliance and is a founding board member of the Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance. She lives in Portland, Maine.

See details of Stacy's upcoming speaking engagements.

You can contact Stacy via this form.

Photo credit: Nathan Eldridge

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Recent Contributions
Short
Study Finds Local Businesses Key to Income Growth
August 29, 2011
The results of a new study suggest that the key to reversing the long-term trend of stagnating incomes in the U.S.
Short
Localism Index 2011
June 24, 2011
Number of new independent bookstores that have opened since 2005:  437 Increase since 2002 in the number of small specialty food stores:  1,414
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: V. Keeping Money Local
August 24, 2010
Third and last, we need new mechanisms for channeling our investment capital in directions that nurture community and rebuild local economies. 

The financial crisis has provided us all with a crash...
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: IV. The Value of Community
August 11, 2010
My second proposal is that we need to adopt planning policies that support local economies. 

I live in a 19th century neighborhood in a small New England city. My mother-in-law, who grew up in this...
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: III. Bigger Is Not Better
August 2, 2010
About ten years ago, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance launched the New Rules Project to develop and advocate for policies that would democratize ownership, refashion the economy for long-term...
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: II. The Birth of Corporations
July 26, 2010

While signs abound that people are rediscovering the benefits of an economy rooted in community and small-scale enterprise, all of this activity, though widespread, is still quite modest. It exists...
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: I. The Good News
July 18, 2010
Let me begin by sharing some good news. Scattered here and there, in my country and in yours, the seeds of a new, more local and durable economy are taking root. 

Locally grown food has soared in...