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The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream
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The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream is the story of one girl's journey from buy-local blogger to woman entrepreneur and indie-shop advocate. When Carrie Rollwagen decided to give up corporate shopping for a year and instead shop local-only, she knew that she'd have to learn how to shop local, that she'd discover new indie businesses, and that she'd need to makeover her shopping habits. What she didn't know is that she'd save money, discover how to connect with her community, and learn to love indie business more than the big box stores she'd bought from all her life. She also didn't know that, before her buy-local year was over, she'd be the owner of her own independent business, a community coffee shop and indie bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama. In The Localist, we follow Carrie on her localist adventure as she embraces slow food, small business, the locavore movement, and many quirky indie shopkeepers and unique independent shops along the way. She tells the story of her year of blogging about buying local in Birmingham, Alabama, and she gives us an inside look at her experience as a new female entrepreneur opening a new neighborhood business: Church Street Coffee & Books, an independent bookshop and locally owned coffee shop. Part memoir, part manual on how to shop local, The Localist is pro-community, but it's not necessarily anti-corporate. Carrie doesn't attack all big business, but rather shows us what we create with our shopping dollars and helps us see new ways of making positive impact on our communities with our spending. Big box stores are convenient, but corporations are not people, and it's important that we shop local and support indie business to keep the scales balanced between Main Street and Corporate America. Carrie Rollwagen is a copywriter and independent business owner based in Birmingham, Alabama. The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream, based on her year-long blog about choosing independent shops over big box stores, is her first book.
The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream is the story of one girl's journey from buy-local blogger to woman entrepreneur and indie-shop advocate. When Carrie Rollwagen decided to give up corporate shopping for a year and instead shop local-only, she knew that she'd have to learn how to shop local, that she'd discover new indie businesses, and that she'd need to makeover her shopping habits. What she didn't know is that she'd save money, discover how to connect with her community, and learn to love indie business more than the big box stores she'd bought from all her life. She also didn't know that, before her buy-local year was over, she'd be the owner of her own independent business, a community coffee shop and indie bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama. In The Localist, we follow Carrie on her localist adventure as she embraces slow food, small business, the locavore movement, and many quirky indie shopkeepers and unique independent shops along the way. She tells the story of her year of blogging about buying local in Birmingham, Alabama, and she gives us an inside look at her experience as a new female entrepreneur opening a new neighborhood business: Church Street Coffee & Books, an independent bookshop and locally owned coffee shop. Part memoir, part manual on how to shop local, The Localist is pro-community, but it's not necessarily anti-corporate. Carrie doesn't attack all big business, but rather shows us what we create with our shopping dollars and helps us see new ways of making positive impact on our communities with our spending. Big box stores are convenient, but corporations are not people, and it's important that we shop local and support indie business to keep the scales balanced between Main Street and Corporate America. Carrie Rollwagen is a copywriter and independent business owner based in Birmingham, Alabama. The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream, based on her year-long blog about choosing independent shops over big box stores, is her first book.
- GenresNonfiction
278 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 2014
About the author
Carrie Rollwagen
1 book6 followersCarrie Rollwagen co-founded and co-owns Church Street Coffee & Books in Mountain Brook with her business partner, Cal Morris. In addition to helping start the now-successful business over three years ago, Carrie participates in community initiatives such as REV Birmingham’s The Big Pitch, where she served as a small business mentor, and Design Week Birmingham, where she served on the Kickstarter School panel. She has worked to create a modern bookstore, pairing a small, curated selection of paper books with a large selection of eBooks available through Church Street in partnership with Kobo eBooks.
Carrie graduated from Samford University with a Journalism and Mass Communications degree, and she polished her skills at The Birmingham Post-Herald and Southern Progress, where she was a copywriter and eventually social media editor through the spinoff company Willow House. She works to help small businesses incorporate social media into their own media strategies, helping independent businesses leverage the skills they need to compete in tough business markets.
She’s been an advocate for small business since 2011 when she started Shop Small, a year-long blog and project in which she shopped exclusively at Alabama-owned business for an entire year.
She’s still involved with promoting local businesses whenever possible, whether it’s through writing, promoting events and products through social media, or co-creating and hosting Shop Small Social, an event spotlighting Mountain Brook Businesses. In November 2014, Carrie releases her first book — The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local and Reclaim the American Dream — about the importance of shopping locally.
Carrie has been recognized for her talent with social media in traditional media (The Birmingham News, AL.com and Weld) and by bloggers. Wade Kwon named her one of Birmingham’s social media stars in his eBook, and blogger and writing teacher Javacia Harris Bowser profiled her on the See Jane Write blog. Carrie speaks at community events about social media for small businesses and non- profits, including at UAB’s Innovations in Wellness conference, and at a monthly social media-focused workshop held at Church Street.
Carrie graduated from Samford University with a Journalism and Mass Communications degree, and she polished her skills at The Birmingham Post-Herald and Southern Progress, where she was a copywriter and eventually social media editor through the spinoff company Willow House. She works to help small businesses incorporate social media into their own media strategies, helping independent businesses leverage the skills they need to compete in tough business markets.
She’s been an advocate for small business since 2011 when she started Shop Small, a year-long blog and project in which she shopped exclusively at Alabama-owned business for an entire year.
She’s still involved with promoting local businesses whenever possible, whether it’s through writing, promoting events and products through social media, or co-creating and hosting Shop Small Social, an event spotlighting Mountain Brook Businesses. In November 2014, Carrie releases her first book — The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local and Reclaim the American Dream — about the importance of shopping locally.
Carrie has been recognized for her talent with social media in traditional media (The Birmingham News, AL.com and Weld) and by bloggers. Wade Kwon named her one of Birmingham’s social media stars in his eBook, and blogger and writing teacher Javacia Harris Bowser profiled her on the See Jane Write blog. Carrie speaks at community events about social media for small businesses and non- profits, including at UAB’s Innovations in Wellness conference, and at a monthly social media-focused workshop held at Church Street.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 27, 2020
Interesting concept and I’m all in on supporting small business, this narrative seems to have the same message on repeat (big business is killing small America). Some interesting assertions initially with that argument, but by the time I kept hearing the same idea for the fifth time, I just put the book down.
Support the author by purchasing her book, just don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting her (and you) to move on.
Support the author by purchasing her book, just don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting her (and you) to move on.
December 31, 2019
Soooo...I wanted to love this book more than I do. The content is fab—shop small, Wal-Mart and Amazon are evil, bookstore in Birmingham—yes! But it’s kind of disjointed. It reads like a bunch of blog posts jammed together in a lot of places rather than a singular narrative. Also, there are a few mistakes—some repeated—that drove me up the wall. Overall, it was worth the read though.
April 8, 2015
I wanted this book to be amazing. As it stands, you will really like it if you already agree with its views. You will strongly dislike it if you already don't. And, perhaps most importantly, if you already disagree with the premise big business is harmful to our communities and country, and therefore shopping there is bad, I highly doubt this book will change your mind.
I was most disappointed by the sweeping statements from the book that were either backed up by a) no cited source or b) anecdotal evidence of the author of a friend. On only one occasion was the source actually cited in the text. The resources section is two pages in the back simple saying "read this" and overall lacks dates and what facts Rollwagen pulled from the source. The book adds nothing to the industry because it just makes sweeping statements with no facts to back them up. Yes, most of them are "common sense." But just because it makes sense doesn't mean it's actually accurate. To build an entire book, save one chapter, on opinions based on facts that are never cited or dated just doesn't make sense to me. And I agree with Rollwagen's premise. I shudder to think what someone who doesn't would do to this book.
The one chapter I do not think this book applies to is the final chapter about Rollwagen co-founding her own business, a coffee and book shop. Here, her tendency to pull from anecdotes actually works as she describes what it is like to open and be a new business, particularly one that opened where a big business left. This chapter is very interesting - it both confirms thoughts you probably already have and offers new perspective on why expecting an indie to perform like and act like a big business chain hurts on many levels. Because of this chapter alone, I am very glad I read this book. Rollwagen's discussion of shopping local for a year as shared throughout the book also fall into this category as they can rely on anecdotal evidence alone.
Essentially, this book isn't really a book. It's a blog. It's as if someone printed out an entire blog and bound it all nice. It is fun to read, very conversational and friendly. You can imagine Rollwagen typing out the jokes as you read them. But, as is true with blogs, the claims are not backed up and assumptions can be stated as facts. For all I know, everything Rollwagen wrote is true. But because she didn't back everything up with sources, I have no idea. To me, that's much more acceptable from blogs than from books. Therefore, I have to say I was disappointed by this book. I was so excited by the subject, but I'm afraid reading a blog isn't as convincing as reading a book. And, again, this is from a girl who already agrees with the book.
I was most disappointed by the sweeping statements from the book that were either backed up by a) no cited source or b) anecdotal evidence of the author of a friend. On only one occasion was the source actually cited in the text. The resources section is two pages in the back simple saying "read this" and overall lacks dates and what facts Rollwagen pulled from the source. The book adds nothing to the industry because it just makes sweeping statements with no facts to back them up. Yes, most of them are "common sense." But just because it makes sense doesn't mean it's actually accurate. To build an entire book, save one chapter, on opinions based on facts that are never cited or dated just doesn't make sense to me. And I agree with Rollwagen's premise. I shudder to think what someone who doesn't would do to this book.
The one chapter I do not think this book applies to is the final chapter about Rollwagen co-founding her own business, a coffee and book shop. Here, her tendency to pull from anecdotes actually works as she describes what it is like to open and be a new business, particularly one that opened where a big business left. This chapter is very interesting - it both confirms thoughts you probably already have and offers new perspective on why expecting an indie to perform like and act like a big business chain hurts on many levels. Because of this chapter alone, I am very glad I read this book. Rollwagen's discussion of shopping local for a year as shared throughout the book also fall into this category as they can rely on anecdotal evidence alone.
Essentially, this book isn't really a book. It's a blog. It's as if someone printed out an entire blog and bound it all nice. It is fun to read, very conversational and friendly. You can imagine Rollwagen typing out the jokes as you read them. But, as is true with blogs, the claims are not backed up and assumptions can be stated as facts. For all I know, everything Rollwagen wrote is true. But because she didn't back everything up with sources, I have no idea. To me, that's much more acceptable from blogs than from books. Therefore, I have to say I was disappointed by this book. I was so excited by the subject, but I'm afraid reading a blog isn't as convincing as reading a book. And, again, this is from a girl who already agrees with the book.
November 30, 2014
The blurb for this book was misleading to me. This wasn't a story of the author's year shopping locally. It was mostly about how big box stores wreak havoc on communities. I was disappointed by this book because I love local stores and was interested in how a person would be able to shop for an entire year in them, but while the author vilified plenty of big box stores, she was either unwilling or unable to provide local stores to use as her ideal examples, except for her own. By the time I reached the end, where she discussed how we should complain about big box offenses because it gets things done, but complaining about local shops is just mean, I was ready to put it down and go browse Amazon.
March 20, 2026
redundant ass book. got interesting when talking about the personal experience of running a small business but took far too long running circles around the same points over and over. editing matters!
May 31, 2016
I really wanted to like this. The premise was sound, it started off well with Rollwagen saying she wasn't going to preach at me, but just tell me her story. Perfect. And then it all went wrong.
I'm guessing that maybe Rollwagen already told her story on her blog and then she wrote this to condense the pertinent points. However, she doesn't have that many points. So even though the book is short, it's repetitive.
Next, it's preachy. That's fine too, but not if you promised that you wouldn't.
I'm so disappointed, because I agree with some of what she says and I think the other stuff would make good discussions. I was so annoyed by the end though, that the good messages and potential conversations are all lost in the frustration and disappointment. Ugh.
I'm guessing that maybe Rollwagen already told her story on her blog and then she wrote this to condense the pertinent points. However, she doesn't have that many points. So even though the book is short, it's repetitive.
Next, it's preachy. That's fine too, but not if you promised that you wouldn't.
I'm so disappointed, because I agree with some of what she says and I think the other stuff would make good discussions. I was so annoyed by the end though, that the good messages and potential conversations are all lost in the frustration and disappointment. Ugh.
Read
November 14, 2015Carrie Rollwagen comes at the question of whether to buy local from two angles: that of a consumer, and that of a small business owner. Her commitment to the virtues of supporting small businesses never wavers, although she does go off on a few rants that might have been edited out had the book not be self-published. (One section is entitled "Owning a Business: A Little Fun, A lot of Shit.") I found her book quite readable, and appreciate the fact that she has contributed a number of great quotes that will be useful for the shop local movement.
Please note that I don't use the star rating system, so this review should not be regarded as a zero.
Please note that I don't use the star rating system, so this review should not be regarded as a zero.
August 22, 2015
This is the book you need to read if you LOVE indie stores. This is the book you need to read if you couldn't care less about indie stores or if they irritate you. Carrie does a great job of describing the economics of shopping small. You will walk way feeling empowered by the knowledge that who you choose to support with your dollars directly affects your quality of life and the culture in your community. This is a no brainer for most thriving cities, but a relatively novel concept for those of us living in cities that are being shaped, sculpted and designed as I type.
December 20, 2023
An interesting read
An interesting read but it feels like, the author starts going around and around in circles. I feel like I may have enjoyed it more if I had an audiobook of it.
An interesting read but it feels like, the author starts going around and around in circles. I feel like I may have enjoyed it more if I had an audiobook of it.
July 24, 2015
Loved it! Especially how it encouraged me to think more deeply about seemingly simple spending choices. It was a bit repetitive at times and I often wished there was more narrative about her year of local shopping and more advice about how to buy local for hard-to-find things (like reasonably priced text books) but overall I would definitely recommend this book and I already plan to gift it to several friends.
February 19, 2015
Most of the book won't be anything new for those of us who support local businesses. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on faith. As a Christian this is something I hadn't even put together. I also enjoyed her perspective as a small business owner. Overall the authors voice and personality make what could be a boring subject entertaining.
May 30, 2017
LOVE this book. Completely changed the way that I shop. Wish everyone would read this book. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews