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ILLUSTRATION BY 731
F
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C
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January 29, 2018
Edited by
Dimitra Kessenides
and David Rocks
Businessweek.com
Small
Business
Saving Main Street
Like many elected officials, Jersey City Mayor
Steven Fulop talks a lot about the need to sup-
port small businesses. Unlike many, he’s put
policies in place to help owners survive rent
hikes, secure low-interest loans, and get expe-
dited business permits. More than 600 small
businesses have opened since Fulop became
mayor of New Jersey’s second-biggest city in
- “We’re seeing a renaissance,” he says.
Formula-business restrictions
have helped independent shops
across the U.S. survive
The mayor’s best-known effort is a zoning
ordinance that prevents formula businesses—
city planner jargon for chains with standard-
ized stores such as Starbucks Corp. and
Target Corp.—from occupying more than
30 percent of the ground floor of commercial
areas of buildings. The city council enacted the
rule in 2015 to preserve the “distinctive sense
of place and unique neighborhood character”
of downtown, the ordinance states. “You don’t
want small business owners who’ve stuck with
the city through the bad and the good to get
squeezed out,” Fulop says. “There’s a real risk
to the long-term health of the city when you
look at where retail is going.”
At least 30 cities and towns across the
country, from San Francisco to McCall,
Idaho, have enacted similar rules. Some ban
all chain stores from certain neighborhoods;
others cap how many such businesses can
move into an area; still others require approval
on a case-by-case basis. Stacy Mitchell,
co- director of the Institute for Local Self-
Reliance (ILSR), an advocacy nonprofit for
sustainable community development, says
