“Main Street” retail has come under a lot of pressure nationwide from online commerce and big-box stores, and the pandemic put additional strain on in-person bricks-and-mortar shopping. But local independent businesses haven’t disappeared, and some are even thriving. How do they do it? Travis Marshall of Funagain Games and Megan Isser of Bloomsbury Books will join The Jefferson Center to consider what makes Ashland a good (or difficult) place to do business. How are these businesses engaged in the community, beyond just selling things? How might the future of downtown shape the enterprises there? What stake do we have in supporting local businesses, and how can we best do that?
This event is part of the Salon series of The Jefferson Center (www.thejeffcenter.org), a Rogue Valley non-profit focused on critical thinking using secular humanist values to understand and engage with issues important to our community.