Right now, we can all understand what entrepreneurs everywhere are experiencing - because it's not only the state of Texas that is impacted by terrible storms, or Connecticut in crisis due to epic flooding - what you face each day in your shuttered California restaurant is not that much different that my store unable to open in an east coast beach town. For the first time in history perhaps, we are virtually all on the same page; are we capable of rising together from this crisis and reclaiming the place America's small businesses once held in the hearts and minds of shoppers, consumers and local residents?
I'm going to traverse out on a limb here and say our problem is not specifically this virus. It's an evolution which has been growing for a long time, highlighted by this massive shutdown in retail activity, of consumers forgetting the roots which you and I put down when we signed a lease or real estate contract and flipped the sign on our front door to "Open". It's the departure from personal connections and conversations with neighbors that society has grown away from, and the ease of technology which enticed their shopping preferences towards a couple of clicks with a mouse instead of visiting us in person. Over time perhaps, we allowed ourselves to become complacent and assume we would always hold a place in the hearts and minds of shoppers, and assumed, maybe, that we'd always benefit from a loyalty they would feel towards us Maybe we just got so used to having the sales and the shoppers that we no longer felt the need to join forces, make time to plan together for our continued economic growth. Maybe eventually we just stopped trying.
Let that sink in for a minute. If asked how many of us belong to an organization dedicated to building the local economy, one which works to promote the distinctly unique shopping and dining experiences found in our zip code, is a key ingredient of a "shop local" movement made up of business owners, residents, artists, and local leaders.....could you raise your hand? While I don't place such efforts on a pedestal as the only solution to promote growth, there's truth and power achieved by people working together. When did your community give up on that idea, drift apart or come to view such goals as unnecessary or irrelevant? Is our lack of concern for the future so shallow that we became okay with ceasing to educate our residents about the benefits of spending where they live? There are national organizations out there providing plans and operating solutions, unified messages and even signage and graphics which could be applied across an entire city - and yet I can count the number of active participants in their programs on two hands. WHEN did your community stop caring if it lives or dies?
Maybe the elephant in the room isn't this epic virus and the resulting effect on our economy, but rather instead, what we stopped doing in each of our towns and cities and neighborhoods. From coast to coast, hundreds of people and places have allowed a "me, me, me" mentality to separate and divide us from our fellow business owners and to perhaps stop feeling the need to unite and come together, and yet now, in the face of a dark time, in more places than I can count right now, people are joining forces to help their down towns and Main Streets; finding a voice with which to advocate for the independents who are mere steps away from closing their doors. Maybe NOW that we can more completely understand what Stefan's Italian Deli is facing in Long Beach, CA - because it's no different than the sushi bar currently shuttered in New York City - maybe our new, broader understanding of what is occurring can help bring us together.