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25 years ago, starting a retail store was much easier. Consumers regularly purchased staple items they required. stores were not difficult to run and the economy was booming. Proprietors often saw themselves as shining examples of individuals living the American dream. A time when neighborhood kids understood that if they ever needed a job, they could look to one of the many neighborhood establishments: candy store, drug store or local shoe shop business. Some of the shops have been operated by the same family for generations. However, in today’s economy most of these mom and pop stores are closing their doors. They are struggling to just keep their businesses afloat.

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Over the years, most of these local businesses succeeded in the face of competition by large department store chains. They managed to compete because they offered individual customer service. They were able to establish a constant flow of loyal customers. The neighborhood shoe store, for example, would let customers return a pair of shoes without a receipt, a gesture based on personal acquaintance with the customer and the assurance of a continuing relationship with him. Sometimes developing strong good customer service bonds are better than just offering a 10% off coupon. Customer service is one of the main tactics small retail outlets were able to use to gain leverage over and compete with large department stores.

Since the development of the internet, small retail stores find themselves striving to keep up not only with their local department store chains, but also with a multitude of online stores. The impact from online stores was slow at first, however, as more and more people started to use the internet, they started making more purchases online; i.e., online shoe stores. There’s no more going to your local shoe store; people started buying shoes online. As online retail stores flourished, your local merchants started to see a sharp decline. While this is convenient for customers, it has begun to take a toll on local neighborhood stores.

In today’s economy, small merchants face an even bigger challenge in order to stay in business. With the banks in their current state, they’ve in turn pressured local businesses, decreasing the lines of credit that merchants depend upon. This has cause local merchants to turn to drastic measures. For instance; your local comfort footwear store owner may have to dip into his retirement fund to purchase inventory or fund the marketing campaign. They don’t have a large funding base to rely on. However, with banks lowering credit limits, they have fewer funds to work with. The overall decline in business compels him to consider the strong possibility of a completely restructured life.

A search using The Washington Post and by searching within AOL might result in related data.       

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