Casualty or Rebirth: Main Street America and Small Businesses

It’s true, we all want to blame the giant corporations and the mass chain stores for the death of Main Street and small mom and pop business across the nation.  It’s easy to pass the blame onto a face we’ve never seen.  We know supporting a giant corporation literally supports child and slave wages in another country, ‘Made in China’ merchandise, little to no full time jobs for local employees, and the list goes on.  While it is true that these large conglomerates offer jobs to the community, it’s also true that the employees get little to no benefits and rarely receive full time hours, a vacation, maternity leave, or health insurance.  You can often find the same workers standing in line at the welfare office, needing assistance for their groceries, medical bills and everyday necessities.

It’s a fact, “For every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $45 goes back into our community-and our tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back!” - Civil Economics  Local businesses are owned by people who live here, work here and are more invested in our future.

So why is it that some towns in America can get it together and others can not?  There are many incredible towns across this fine country that are paving the way to ensure the support and attention of their locally ran businesses.  They have seen first hand their towns become desolate and run down from their factories closing and being outsourced and the mom and pop shops shutting doors from mass chain stores moving in.  Some cities are now setting the example and fighting tooth and nail to keep these mass stores and companies out of their town.  I applaud their efforts and support their fight!

It is truly crazy and obscene the incentives states, counties and villages give these giant   corporations.  We see it as cheaper, easier, a one-stop shop for all our goods.  While at the same time the family three doors down from you loses their home due to foreclosure.  They had a shop on Main Street repairing shoes.  No one seems to need their shoes repaired anymore.  They purchase a cheaply made set at the mall that will be thrown away in a few months.  They don’t care who, how or what circumstances it was made under.  A few months pass and the small shoe store that had been in business for over 50 years is now forced to close their doors too.  The vicious cycle begins.

My generation doesn’t remember as much of the small downtown as our parents did.  As for our grandparents, it was them and their friends running the show!  There were no mega shopping centers or two hour trips to spend your money in some other town.  They went to their Main Street shops and supported them.  There was a meat market on the corner for a day or two worth of meals, a small pharmacy across the street, a locally owned bank or two, your bakery for fresh breads, a hardware for your weekend projects, clothing and shoe stores, kid shops, general stores, an ice cream parlor, and so many other fine places.  Yes, it’s true, people really did get out of their cars and walk downtown and stop at all the shops for their daily supplies.  This is why the downtown was booming.  There were jobs!  Factories were in plenty, small businesses were owned by people who worked and lived here. The community made a choice to stop at the local diner instead of the new fast food chain.  It’s what they did because they knew their neighbor that owned and operated it.  They didn’t know the CEO of the company or what he would do with the money.  They knew by supporting the locally owned business that their neighbor was able to provide their little girl with a new pair of much needed eye glasses.  Their support helped put clothes on her back for school and pay for the gas in their vehicle.

People choose to make decisions everyday.  Sometimes the dilemmas and choices we are faced with can be scary, severe and unknown.  So why do we make such an easy choice so hard?  Why do we choose to place our finances, time and support to these one stop shops and mega stores?  We know their practices and ethics are low.  We know they do not benefit the whole as a community.  We know they have a negative impact on the environment, and we know they are one of the main causes for the death of Main Streets across America.  Yet we as an individual, a society, a community, a world as a whole, make a conscious choice every single day on what, how, and who we choose to support.

Commercialism plays a big role in telling you where to shop and what to buy.  Ever feel like you have too much junk, too many toys, or some unused things just sitting around?  Most folks do!  Personally I don’t watch television.  I literally don’t see or hear commercials.  Our television doesn’t come on until late evening, after most would put their children to bed.  When it does, we do not have cable, only streaming movies through a gaming system.  We choose to only watch what we want and when.  It’s rather convenient, honestly.

I sometimes forget we are among few that don’t subject ourselves to the propaganda of mass pharmaceutical commercials or what celebrity is dating who.  My concern is more about the quality of the food on my table for my family.  Was it locally grown and without the use of pesticides?  I want to know if I am eating genetically modified foods packed full of toxins, like high fructose corn syrup and bovine growth hormones.  What about fresh baked breads and cakes that are from scratch, not from a mix or frozen dough?  These processed and chemically induced foods affect me, my family and the environment.  I want my locally raised meat to be grass fed and free of synthetic hormones or antibiotics, the way nature intended.  It’s rare that you find a mass chain store that carries these local goods.  Most chain store vegetables are picked way too early so they can be transported across the country, sometimes across the globe!  Give me local, fresh and natural.  I want it to come from a local farm to my dinner plate.

None of this is new thinking or ‘hippie’ ways.  It’s simply getting back to the basics.  It’s not new!  This is how things used to be done.  Folks shopped at the small places because the big giants weren’t there.  They stopped at their local bakery to get a fresh loaf of real bread without preservatives and added gluten.  They went to the local butcher and got a day or two worth of farm fresh meat for that night and lunch the next day.  People supported and needed a local tailor to refit and repair their clothes or sometimes make them a custom dress or outfit.  The sweeper store knew how to fix all makes and models or could give you a great deal on the newest vacuuming machine. Local art shops were a hit for folks to gather, mingle and buy the newest and coolest wall of mantle piece that no one else had.

There was even a time when we filled the landfills less.  There were no disposable diapers.  Nope!  Many places had a local diaper cleaning service.  The service truck came to you, picked up the diapers, professionally cleaned them and brought them back.  Doesn’t sound too shabby does it?  Milk men would drop off fresh and cold milk in glass bottles at your doorstep.  You better believe it was from a local farm and not shipped in.  The used glass bottles were then taken back to the factory to be sterilized and reused.  There was no BPA plastic leaking into their milk and they were being environmentally friendly by reducing and reusing.  There were also more jobs for all those different workers.  You can also bet the glass bottles would have been stamped, U.S.A. made.  Bringing these ways of life back is nothing new.  Supporting local, eco-friendly, natural, organic and sustainable betters the community as a whole.

I used to love hearing stories from my dad.  He spent almost his entire life in Ashland, Ohio.  He was part of the Ashland graduating class of 1960.  I would often hear him reminiscing about some of the grand shops in downtown.  He would talk of the cars that cruised Main Street and Claremont Ave.  We heard stories about a booming town, lots of local factories, small shops, incredible diners and fun community gatherings.  My grandmother, his mom, was a retiree of National Latex, a once local factory.  I even remember attending their annual picnics for retired employees as a kid.  I can now point out all the empty industrial buildings and vacant lots.  It’s a shame to see these places that were once jobs, be so far gone.  With the loss of so many local foundries came the promise of cheaper items made somewhere else.  Then came along mass chain stores with those outsourced goods selling them back to us.  No one ever said these long forgotten jobs and industries can’t come back and be better, greener and more efficient than ever!  

We all work hard at our jobs.  We want them to be rewarding, financially stable and maybe even a bit enjoyable.  As humans, we want to feel we have a purpose and that we can make a difference, no matter how small or big it may seem.  It wouldn’t be and it isn’t much fun working extremely hard to benefit the corporate giants and multimillion dollar CEOs.  Why should you struggle from one paycheck to the next when someone else is vacationing on your hard earned dollar?  Middle class, small business owners, you, me and millions of other hard working people are the backbone of America.  The easiest way to send a message to large corporations, giant chain stores and mass industries is to simply stop supporting them.

Isn’t it about time to get back to the basics?  You can start by growing and raising some of your own foods, shop and support your local farm markets and small businesses.  Say no to the throwaway plastics and outsourced corporations with their cheaply made goods.  Our future is where we put our money and energy.  We have the ability to make our grandparents proud and pave the way for our own children and grandchildren.  We have the technology to create better and cleaner things for generations to come.

The time to get motivated is now.  You have to make the choice to be the change you wish to see in the world, in your community, in your life and in yourself.  Downtowns, local businesses and community events need your support and attention.  Stop complaining there is nothing to do in your downtown!  When was the last time you parked your car and got out to walk around?  There are treasures on every street and corner in our great community and communities around the country.  Make an effort to stop and shop these places.  Main Street America will continue to die if we make the conscious choice to support Wall Street versus Main Street.  Wake up, America!  We are the answer!  We are creators, thinkers, inventors and the hope of a better tomorrow.  

If we bring back Main Street and the small Mom & Pop businesses, we not only better our community, our schools, but our lives and world.   We can then create those long time treasured memories with our grandchildren.

Next time you take a trip with your family or friends, enjoy the benefits of the small towns across the country.  Take the scenic route, avoid the interstates that bypasses the beautiful scenery, villages and incredible adventures of Main Streets across the nation.

© Kandice Thompson - 2012