Very few old-fashioned downtown merchants can afford to run businesses
in the way modern shoppers desire. Mind you, I'm basing this on my old
hometown which has a population of about 2500.

Small specialty stores were operated by the owner and maybe one or two
assistants. The assistants were often family members. Most buildings
were built from 1890-1925 and the majority have housed several types of
shops over the years. The family lived in an apartment over the shop
and crammed their car (if they had one) in the alley behind the shop.
The grocery store and bank had parking lots in addition to what was
available along the street. Otherwise there were only two or three
parking spots available per store on average. The parking issue limited
how many customers a shop could have and how many unrelated employees it
could have unless the owner played chauffeur or made deliveries or
encouraged alternate transportation such as bicycles (no taxis or public
transit in towns this size). While my hometown did not have parking
meters, many surrounding communities did. Friendly neighbors would pick
up a few things for the ill or elderly if the store didn't offer deliveries.

Shoppers walked to the post office and grocery store daily (except
Sundays and holidays). No one had a 26 cu. ft. refrigerator in the
kitchen, a mammoth deep freeze in the basement, and a "snack"
refrigerator in the garage. People actually cooked meals and ate
together as a family instead of individually popping things in a
microwave at each person's convenience. Several generations of a family
lived in the same town and they knew the store owners (and vice versa).
While strolling to get the mail and the day's food shoppers would pick
up anything else needed at the other stores. No one would think of
buying fresh milk at a variety store or a pair of shoes or a hammer at
the grocery store although such things might happen in much smaller or
very remote communities that had only one or two stores.

Along come the big chain stores. They buy vast tracts of property along
major roads between "work" towns and "bedroom" towns but are close
enough to both to be convenient to all who can drive or find
transportation. They have 300+ parking spots. The buildings are new
and built to their specifications with tons of storage space--assuming
you don't mind shopping in a place that looks like a warehouse. They
are open (in some regions anyway) 24/7 except for maybe a few hours off
on certain holidays. They own their own distribution facilities, truck
lines, and even some production facilities. When they do buy products
from other companies, they order massive quantities at deep discounts to
supply an entire region of the state or country. They have tons of
employees who are often treated as faceless slaves and they have little
pride in the job they perform. It is the customer's job to walk around
and find whatever item they want. After all, the night stockers put the
items on the labeled shelves. It isn't any employee's fault that other
shoppers pick up items from one place and discard them in another. Some
took the miserable job just for the employee discount.

Downtown merchants are not making up excuses. Owners have tried to hang
on as long as possible to serve loyal customers. A one- or two-person
shop cannot be open 24/7. You also cannot afford to keep the shop open
three or four extra hours per day on the off chance someone might come
in and buy one skein of floss (or birthday card, a couple of nails...).
Chances are that person will complain about paying 60 cents for it
when they could get it for 25 cents five miles down the road at the
chain store. Having a planned stitch night or such can pay off, but a
general expansion of hours often does not. Some old downtowns have one
night a week that all stores are open and parking is free to encourage
business. Downtown associations often sponsor holiday walks and design
gift certificates that can be used at any downtown store. In some
places these gimmicks do work. That is, if anyone sees the ads. More
people get news on tv or online or read only large-city or national
newspapers instead of reading the local weekly newspaper. While the
stores might benefit from advertising in a county-wide paper, they
certainly can't justify ads in the Wall Street Journal or USA Today even
if that is what the locals read.

Buildings were not required to meet ADA standards a century ago and
there simply isn't enough floor or sidewalk space available to install a
properly-graded entry ramp. No matter how much you care for those who
are not blessed with full mobility, if you have only two parking spots
on the curb in front of your building, you weep when the government
requires one to be reserved for the handicapped or the city takes one
away to make a wide curb cut. As the stores around you close, vandalism
goes up which means your insurance goes up. Or the other stores close
and are turned into bars which drives away many customers and makes your
location very undesirable in the evening. If you have employees who are
not a member of your family, you would rather let them get a job
somewhere else if you can no longer pay them a wage they can live on
because you care about them and their families.

But how can these stores compete with vertical integration? A jeweler
with all the equipment can design and cast original pieces or do repairs
that chain stores can't, a grocer might buy produce from local farms so
it is literally just-picked fresh, and anyone can sell trinkets with the
town name or school mascot. The owner can be on a first-name basis with
all the old regulars (and friendly to new people) and know where
everything is, how much it costs, and go above and beyond to serve the
customers. Do any of those mean enough to a frazzled mother of four who
has just put in a nine hour day plus an hour commute each way when she
has exactly 28 minutes to feed her crowd before shuttling them off to
evening activities? There is probably nothing those store owners can do
which will attract this person on a regular basis. Unfortunately,
occasional customers don't generate enough business to get the bills
paid. How about the loyal customer of ten years ago who is now retired
only to have lost their retirement money to the poor economy and the
$3,000/month for health insurance/treatment/medicine? No matter how
much this customer cares for you as a person and wants your business to
succeed, pennies must be pinched.

My old downtown was a busy place. Now the jeweler, the pharmacist, and
the owner of the variety store are dead with no one to carry on those
businesses. The florist, hardware store, and several others didn't make
it through the farm crisis of the 80's. Owners of the lumber yard and
appliance store retired. The old grocer died and, after running the
business for several years, his son sold the store to the grocer from
the next town over. A doctor's office came and went. There have also
been legal, insurance and tax businesses over the years. Some buildings
have decayed beyond use. The old soda fountain is still there but is
only open semi-occasionally since the owner's children are scattered
across the country and they like to go visiting. The post office, city
hall, and bank are still there. A couple of hair salons are still there
but the owners are nearing retirement; I think they keep working because
they like the gossip. There are the ubiquitous bars, eateries (always
changing ownership) and a laundromat to serve the people who now rent
the apartments above all the storefronts. Skateboarders and loiterers
hang out at night and destroy the curbs, benches, and greenspace. All
in all, it has become a dismal place. I don't see much hope for it.
The remaining buildings need major renovations to come up to code. I
wish those who are holding on all the best.

Shstringfellow wrote:
This is what I keep saying, too. The merchants downtown in our small city are
always trying to find things to blame their poor business on, but it basically
comes down to they are not sensitive to the needs of the modern customer- they
are open 10:00-5:00 M,T,Th,F&S-they close at 1:00 on Wed. and are not open any
evening hours, even at the holidays. If I work until 4:30 or 5:00, and need
some little thing, do they think I'm going to wait until Saturday to get it?
No, I'll run out to the nearest big box store and pick it up and more!

--
Brenda Lewis
WIP: "Pink Baby" photo frame, Candamar