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Feature Article October 30

Feature Article October 30, 2003

LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb Home

Rural Merchants and Customers: We Need an Attitude Adjustment

The closing of yet another Main Street Verona business and the impending opening of the LCBO & Beer Agency Store has set a lot of people thinking about the general state of commercial health in our little village. As we become more and more a bedroom/retirement community, we need to come to terms with the hard fact that Main Street will never again be clogged on a Saturday night with happy farmers come to town to spend their egg money simply because were the closest place to shop. If we want a commercial sector, we have to forge a whole new mindset about who, as consumers, we buy from and who, as businesses, we serve. We need to realize that living in a small village brings with it certain civic responsibilities about where we shop, and that being in business here brings responsibilities about how we sell.

We consumers have been brainwashed into thinking that saving pennies is akin to a moral commitment. TV ads of all those little Wal-Mart smiley faces madly slashing prices have convinced us that money is the most important thing about consuming. In a city, this kind of thinking can work for a lot of people. Who cares if the independent merchant closes his quaint little shop? Theres always Costco! But that mindset completely ignores the role that independent businesspeople play in the very fabric of a community. They are the first to be called on for charitable donations. Is there any school group who has not hit up the local grocery store for a deal? Merchants often have their finger on the pulse of community opinion. How many times have seen customers linger at the counter to discuss the state of some community issue? Local stores are close by for emergency needs. Feel like driving to Kingston on Saturday afternoon to pick up those countersunk screws you need to finish your project? The proprietors and employees are usually local people, who share your concerns. And the very presence of vibrant successful stores in a community gives people a sense of well being about living there.But just as consumers need to think about their responsibilities, so do businesspeople. It comes as a shock to some merchants that the community will not automatically beat a grateful path to their counter just because theyve decided to open their door. In a city, the stores with the cheapest prices can afford to take the take-it-or-leave-it attitude that ignores consumers needs for special service. But if people have to pay a little more in your store, theyd better get extra-special attitude from you and your employees. Believe it or not, it takes a customer a little bit of courage to enter a small store for the first few times. Make her feel welcome. Smile, for heavens sake. Dont have the item? Make sure the customer sees you making an effort to bring it in. Customer complains about price? Either bite your tongue or have a soft and soothing reply like, I know its hard to fight the big chain stores, but were right here in the village for you. Save your well-justified frustration for your longsuffering spouse.Merchants and customers exist in a symbiotic collaboration, especially in small towns. We all need to pay more attention to how we shop and how we serve our shoppers if we are going to have any rural retail businesses at all here.

[This editorial is based on years of watching, buying (and sometimes selling) in Verona. People leave the retail sector for all kinds of reasons, and the article does not mean to imply that any recently closed Verona business has shut down because of poor practices.]

With the participation of the Government of Canada