“Keep Commerce on Your Main Street”
Encouragement for Local Business Owners & Patrons
Main Street — it’s a familiar place and a common term.
It’s a place I grew to love while in school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – only our main street’s name was Franklin Street.
For my whole life, my hometown was pursuing an updated, ungraded downtown experience for locals and visitors alike, but it wasn’t until a few years after I moved away from Fayetteville that I started to notice any mentionable difference.
For this reason, when I visited other towns with thoughtful, fun shopping and dining districts, I felt like a kid in a candy shop.
Was it the coffee shops that caught my attention in Chapel Hill and in Richmond, VA, where I would visit one of my very best friends?
Was it the independent bookstore just around the corner from a delicious gastro-pub and restaurant in Decatur, GA, where I spent a summer while interning in Atlanta?
Yes and no. It was all of them. It was every individual small business owner’s dream becoming a reality that made me fall in love with local business and main streets everywhere.
You know what they say… Every time a local business owner serves their community it gives a Local Type writer wings!
What? If that’s not a thing, it should be.
Anyways, you can imagine my sense of awe when I received a bookmark with my purchase from Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café in Asheville, NC, that read, “Find it here. Buy it here. Keep books on your main street.”
Why would they have to state that you buy books at the main street bookstore where you found it, you ask?
Easy – people enjoy the marketplace that small business owners work so diligently to create from scratch and curate, but they’ll find inspiration in these stores, snap a picture and buy the same book online.
This is especially true for bookstores because the titles of books are so easily searchable online (as opposed to a blouse you find a local boutique, for example).
As I kept reading, the bookmark said:
Thanks for shopping locally…
Here’s what you did!
You kept money in the local economy.
You embraced what makes us unique.
You created local jobs.
You helped the environment.
You nurtured community.
You helped keep the high street healthy.
You created more choices.
You benefited from our expertise.
You invested in entrepreneurship.
You made us a destination.
Thank you!
What a great way to explain your worth without breaking out your financial books and timecards. It’s about the value you provide and that’s so much more than the product you sell.
Encouragement for Main Street Business Owners
So, here’s to you, small business owner!
You’re a dreamer, visionary and community leader.
You’re brave, diligent and thoughtful.
You’re a difference-maker for individuals, families and other businesses in your community and along your main street, local business district.
You’re bringing back the marketplace that we “crave to be part of” that Robert Spector talks about in his book “The Mom & Pop Store: How the Unsung Heroes of the American Economy Are Surviving and Thriving.”
You’re welcoming and inviting spirit makes your town feel like home.
Hats off to you. I love working with you and for you.
Whether you know what your next step is in terms of small business marketing or you feel totally lost in the world of online marketing, stop by and introduce yourself! I can’t wait to meet you.
Let me know! I’m always here to answer any questions you may have about content and copywriting!
