I have penned a few Money Matters articles on those big box stores and the little mom and pop local stores we all like to support and how they coexist with each other.
The first article centered on the idea the big box stores like Costco, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes were killing the small local stores in neighborhoods around the country. The reasons were lower overhead cost per sale, better selection, ease of access (the one stop shopping experience), of course, price.
The subsequent article a few years later turned the tide on the big box stores with the subject being that the box stores themselves were now dealing with their own threat of existence because of the online retailers like Amazon.
Some big box stores were slow to react while others like Walmart, Target, and others took a quick lesson from Amazon and started their own online services.
The big box stores did have an advantage over Amazon. Buyers could actually view the item at the store. When shopping online, this was not possible.
Amazon countered that issue by implementing a no-questions asked, super easy return policy.
When COVID arrived and the governments of the world decided to implement shutdowns of just about everything, this further exasperated the plight of the in-person shopping experience and put even more pressure on local establishments. As the shopping environment has progressed, the mom and pop stores, those that survived that is, did have a leg to stand on, albeit a wobbly one.
We discovered that people care about their local stores and many didn’t mind paying a few pennies extra for the local experience. Many mom and pops met their shoppers half way with price concessions making sure the “few extra pennies” didn’t turn into “many extra dollars” as people still have to watch their budgets. The severe inflationary pressures of the last few years obviously hasn’t help local stores to keep the doors open but they are a stubborn bunch as well as many of their local supporters are fortunately a compassionate bunch.
That being as it may, some local vendors resist dropping prices and rely on the local shopping experience as something no online retailer or big box store can compete with.
For some store owners however, how to compete with the large corporate outlets still eludes them.
I used to shop at a small store in my local township Nevada City that was tucked away in a quaint hallway like shopping area in an historic old building.
The area also contained a Persian Rug outlet, a gourmet chocolatier as well as a few other specialty shops. The historic building environment and the tucked away shops offered a somewhat magical experience. I frequented a small gift boutique there during birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas. The store was very small, had a very limited selection and the prices were high, but I liked the owner, wanted to support the shop and was always warmly welcomed.
After shopping there three or four times a year for more than a decade, I bought my wife a blouse and when her birthday arrived, the wife tried it on. Me, being a clueless husband when it came to sizing, had of course bought the wrong size. I should have known better than to try and buy clothes for the opposite sex but I felt brave that day so what the heck.
In any case, the blouse didn’t fit so I went back to my little boutique and asked if the owner had a larger size. The owner said no and when I asked for a refund, she said the store policy was credit only. Yea, I know this is the policy of many a store but seeing as I went out of my way to shop there and support her, a I was a little perturbed that she refused to refund my money and stuck to the credit only offer.
Seeing nothing else I liked, I gently reminded her that I would of course be back but would prefer the refund.
She stuck to her guns so I thanked her and left the store. I never returned.
In conclusion, our local shops are a great place to engage with our neighbors, enjoy a pleasant day of shopping and walking the town and support our small town purveyors.
But there is a give and take that should be considered by the small shop owner. Don’t act like a big box or mega store with stringent policies that can’t be bent because you’re too focused on the almighty buck. We shop there because we’re neighbors, so treat us as such.
“Watching the markets so you don’t have to”
