Localism
Big box stores always win. My hometown had it's downtown shut down when Wal-Mart moved in and now Lowe's is there and the two local hardware stores are out of business. Remember the box stores pay low dollar and offer no benefits because most of their employees are "part-time". The money you spent at the local stores made its way to the other local businesses such as restuarants, etc.
I think it is a shame now that the storefront model is sadly either Home Depot, Loews's, or nothing. I miss local hardware stores with real employees. The chains are cheap but inventory is surprisingly shallow on real hardware that is not 100% mainstream. The quality of nuts and bolts is poor and the sizes are only the most popular. My uncle owned Circle Hardware in Baltimore when I was a kid, so I am spoiled by a real hardware store run by a mechanic.
Thinking of my uncle, INTEGRITY is also a key to success in a local business because you see the same people at the food store who are your customers.
If people would either A) pay their bills; or B) not open a dumb store that has no local market, they wouldn't go out of business.
I hope we can be the exception to this and grow a small specialty biz here in southern Maryland.
IIII's R Us
We are just starting this microbiz down here doing enhancement of wireless and cell service inside buildings and vehicles. We have been doing engineering and now going into the consumer market. We had only been providing consulting engineering services before to the wireless industry and broadcasters.
I think that only value added small businesses are successful. Our value added is personal experience and you can talk to an engineer. Both my wife and I are able to work directly with non technical customers.
My point is maybe the customer can find all the little pieces on the Internet at slightly lower price, but if they can't figure out how to use the stuff, there is not someone local who can take time to talk to them, much less drop by to see what is going on if needed. Someone in Chicago is not going to know what works where in our particular geography.
We are counting on uniqueness and localism to be an advantage. I think one has to be "off the beaten track", doing something the chains can't do to compete with chains. The small guy has to have value added. Selling a product alone will not work, you really need some personal service that is attached to the sale that requires a trained person. You are ahead if this value added can't be done by an untrained person off the street who GlombMart can hire for minimum wage and replace when they get sick or ask for a real wage.
IMHO
Bill
Suppot your mom and pops.
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