"Don't Let This Happen to your Town" (the Death of Small Businesses Where You Live)

Originally posted back in 2014 under a different user name, I'm resharing this again. I still feel - despite the melancholy tone - that it has value and may inspire someone to really think before they leave town to shop elsewhere. We can't deny that this is indeed taking place all through our Main Streets and downtowns, neighborhoods and cities, and while I know "retail" as we once knew it will never be quite the same, I'm afraid that we as a society have stopped considering the implications of our choices, decisions and spending.

So you take me for a ride,
Through your town, just to see;
And it hurts reading "For Rent"
Where downtown used to be.

You pull to the drive thru
Of another fast food chain;
Casually you mention the loss
Of small businesses, down on Main.

Need to do some shopping you say,
So to the highway we cruise;
Past the small mom and pop's
This community stands to lose.

Once at the big box giant,
I can't join you inside;
I'm mourning the emptiness
Of your town, that has died.

So easy to look past
What's right there to see;
A quiet ride back to home
Leaves a sadness in me.

For your town can't survive,
When businesses are passed by;
And soon people will ask
Why the hell did they die.

Silent streets tell the tale,
Of what has been lost;
Vacant storefronts now show,
What big box "savings" have cost.

Live Local, USA • "Sharing the Love of

Small Business from Coast to Coast"