The Economy and Staying Open

I saw something on the news last night that a small store up in North Kansas City had come up with. They had hung a huge banner out front of their building that said, "Your Patronage Keeps Us Open." The owner or manager was interviewed and said they thought the banner would draw people in and it would be out there as long as it needed to be.



Does this work? The jury is out, I'm sure, but it makes me wonder.



I was talking to a friend a couple of days ago and how things are going with small businesses, and strategies that everyone was using to try to get people in. One of the things she cited was how Circuit City was "featured" in the news right before Christmas as a chain that was in trouble. She felt that the media attention was the death knell because all of a sudden, no one wanted to buy products from a company that might not be there to make good on warranties or to redeem gift cards. Immediately, everyone transferred their business to Best Buy "even though I might pay a little more." Certainly a valid concern, and you really can't blame anyone for thinking that way.



Do you as a customer care that the small businesses near you might go out of business? Or are you more interested in buying it cheaper at a big box store?



I grew up in a number of small towns. Everyone understood that if you wanted to continue to have local options you needed to shop with your neighbors and that they, in turn, would shop with you. However, once I moved to a metro area, that idea seemed to get lost somewhere.



I love being known at the places where I do business. It makes me feel like I'm contributing to the community and something more than some corporation's bottom line. Would people really rather be anonymous when they hand over their hard-earned dollars?



Maybe it's because no one knows who the actual owner is or they never give it a second thought. We're so used to the corporately owned store and would rather buy on price. WalMart is a great example when you look at small towns. Many a small town has seen their quaint downtown area go the way of the woolly mammoth once WalMart moved in.



I'm all for survival of the fittest and capitalism at its finest. Sometimes there really isn't a market for a better mousetrap. However, if there's a business that really does offer something to the community then doesn't it follow that customers need to remember that and offer a little extra loyalty when times get rough?



Small businesses typically have a relationship with their customers that you can't find at a larger store, whether it's a grocery store or a hardware store or the fast food place. Because we small business owners are so aware of how much our livelihood depends on our satisfied customers, we typically will go the extra mile to make sure our customers stay happy. In addition most of us try to patronize those who patronize us. It's disconcerting when there's a down month and we don't know if we've done something wrong, or if it's "just" the economy, or if there is some other reason that has nothing to do with us.



But do we really need to remind our customers that "Your Patronage Keeps Us Open?" I'd love to hear your opinions.