Skip Crowded Lines and Lots, Think Local!

Small town business owners deserve much more respect that they are given now a day. Coming from a family of small business owners I have seen some of the harsh effects that large chains like Wal-Mart and Target have on local businesses. I get it, these stores are super convenient and cheap, but think about the differences that occur between walking into a large chain store, and waltzing into a local store in the center of your town.

When entering my Aunt’s self owned boutique of thirty-five years I can already named a million reasons why shopping smaller businesses is much more enjoyable for everyone. For one thing you typically don’t have to spend ten minutes driving around like a mad person, dodging little children and people backing out with no courtesy to even take a look behind them to see if there are any moving cars, because yes believe it or not there are many of those in parking lots!

Another huge difference is the customer-owner interaction in many of these smaller stores. No matter who you are or where you’re from, if you’re a customer in my Aunt’s boutique she will always greet you with a friendly hello and will be willing to either shoot the shit, or tell you if those socks you just purchased don’t fulfill your highest expectations of hiking socks, she will gladly give you your money back. I could never imagine hearing something like that from a clerk at Target. It’s all about how the customer feels; if owners know them on a first name basis they already feel more welcome into a store than opposed to a big brand name company, where customers are just numbers.

Another advantage owners like my Aunt have are direct feedback from their customers, which in turn makes them more educated on the products they are selling and what is working and what isn’t. As a shopper I would much rather buy an item after hearing from the owner about the other customers that have bought it and came back to the store just to rave about it, rather than picking something off the shelf with no clue as to what I am getting myself into. Bottom line, small store owners know their product, and they know it well, isn’t that enough reason to visit them, instead of the teenager working at target down the street, that has barely any background information on what we intend to purchase.

Local businesses give off a huge sense of community and pride. The key to these successful self owned businesses is the fact that they give back to the community. Think about it, often times you see many of the pizza houses or other small companies in your town sponsoring local sports teams or giving donations for raffles, they are taking money out of their businesses to spend on us. How many times have you seen a t-ball team sponsored by your local Wal-mart, none, exactly! These businesses that are often times found in the heart of our towns do so much for us, I urge you if you have not done so this season already, to go out and pay them a visit, drop some cash, and have an overall enjoyable experience that may bring back a few memories from your younger years!