What are your dislikes of small business retail

V

Victor

Senior Member
Location
midwest USA
I am no fan of small business stores and restaurants. People say we should support them, but
I have many complaints. One is that their lights are so dim that I don't know if they are open. Don't
want to shop there or park and look inside. Bad way to save money. They lose my business. I know this is the trend
In many states.
Two. The owners or staff say misleading things and deceive. Whatever I want, it will arrive later, today,
tomorrow, next week. They really don't know in fact. When I return, it is never there, and they tell me to return again
They don't want to lose customers, but they lose me because of lack of trust. This happens to me
all the time over little and big things such as condos and cars. The large franchises show their inventories online
What are your annoyances? I can name ten.
 

We have a few great Mom & Pop businesses in my city that have gotten it right and enjoy a large and loyal following. For some reason most of them are in the food business, restaurants, bakeries, butcher shops, etc…

I’ve been to a few where they have gotten it terribly wrong, some were dreamers while others seemed to be great at their chosen field but not so great at the business of running a business.

If it’s something that I use or that interests me,
I’ll give them a chance.
 
I support my small businesses when ever I can. They often are the backbones of the communities they serve. For instance…i have a project house in a very small community. The local grocery store is an ace hardware/grocery store. Without it you would have to drive 75 miles to obtain a pack of screws, a bag of potatoes or a can of paint. Does it cost more? Sure it does. Is it worth it? Well ask yourself if it is worth your time to drive 75 miles one way for a pack of screws.
 

Victor said:
I am no fan of small business stores and restaurants. People say we should support them, but
I have many complaints. One is that their lights are so dim that I don't know if they are open. Don't
want to shop there or park and look inside. Bad way to save money. They lose my business. I know this is the trend
In many states.
Two. The owners or staff say misleading things and deceive. Whatever I want, it will arrive later, today,
tomorrow, next week. They really don't know in fact. When I return, it is never there, and they tell me to return again
They don't want to lose customers, but they lose me because of lack of trust. This happens to me
all the time over little and big things such as condos and cars. The large franchises show their inventories online
What are your annoyances? I can name ten.iAround where I love, AA
Click to expand...
Around where I live, there are innumerable small (and at least locally owned/operated) businesses that definitely do things right (no deceptions, no dim lights when inappropriate). They are valued. One gets to know the proprietors & staffs. People patronize the box stores & Amazon and such if there happens to be no local option that can provide the goods or specific service.
 
We have a big cheese pizza that isn't well lit but it's the best pizza in town so I will support her dim lights and all.

I utilize the local businesses here more than Amazon because they have what I need. When they don't then I turn to Amazon.

I have no car though either. Even if I did it would serve me no purpose to drive out of town to shop.
 
I like dealing with Ace Hardware. They are knowledgeable and have just about anything and everything. I buy a lot of things there. I just finished building a ramp from a short sidewalk to a lady’s side door, so she could ride her electric wheelchair chair out of her van and almost into her kitchen. She wanted it built using aluminum. Ace put me onto a local fabricator that he thought could help me.

I called the fabrication outfit and told him I was looking for a prefabricated ramp kit for a wheelchair ramp. He told me if I brought a drawing showing sizes to him, they could build one for me. I knew they were available online, but I wanted to deal with a local outfit if possible. It took them about 2 weeks and everything went together fairly easily. I only had to drill the screw holes.
 
Small businesses create the ambiance of the downtown core. Without them the city looks defeated and that’s self-fulfilling.

If they have something and I need it, I don’t mind paying a little extra for the convenience. I prefer them to a big box. Amazon is absolutely a last resort.
 
Like @Been There I like Ace Hardware as well.
We do not have a lot of small businesses around me. There are a few on Main Street but I am not interested in them.
I like to support small businesses whenever I can.
One downfall to them I have found that if I am the only customer in the store, they will talk my ear off, something that I don't actually like too much!😉
 
I never visit retail stores anymore. I buy what I need from Amazon and, if I need food, I place an order from Stop & Shop also on the internet. I'm 90 and housebound so I must shop in that manner and it works just fine. I haven't visited a real store in 20 years.

I also cannot visit a broker. Thus, in 1998 I placed all my money in Amazon stock shares and have done very well, indeed.
 
I support small local businesses and go out of my way to use them. It's the majority of my shopping. If I have to use a large corporation, it's usually Walmart online. I can't remember the last time I walked into a big box store.
 
Rossana said:
Like @Been There I like Ace Hardware as well.
We do not have a lot of small businesses around me. There are a few on Main Street but I am not interested in them.
I like to support small businesses whenever I can.
One downfall to them I have found that if I am the only customer in the store, they will talk my ear off, something that I don't actually like too much!😉
Click to expand...
I am fortunate enough to live in an area that's known for it's local businesses.
 
Well, it all depends where you live, rural or city.and location. I live in a vast number amount of stores from closet size to Walmart, so I can be fussy.
Large box store staff can be personal or more friendly than little stores. These family run stores won't take returns ,and take any issue you have personally. Stores are poorly lit, often no parking, too small.
One owner was evicted for not paying rent. Now he starts a GoFundMe drive.
Get a job.
 
The small country town that we recently moved to has many Mom and Pop stores of different kinds…a few restaurants, a little grocery store, Ace hardware, a local farmers market and a few others.

I will always support small locally owned businesses, regardless of personal inconvenience, higher prices, smaller inventory etc. They are routinely friendlier, I get to create a personal relationship with the owner(s,) they are all very customer oriented.
 
I don't care for small businesses in my area because the people are so unfriendly. More than once, in an attempt to shop locally, I've gone into a place and been met with complete silence, no greeting, no smile—nothing. They just stand there and stare impassively at you.

My kids and I even still joke about a small shop we went to in the town of Regent, ND, because they were so unsmiling and unwelcoming. (And yet people here go on and on about "North Dakota nice." I don't think most of them have traveled much.)

This appears to be a state issue; I've lived in several states that are much more welcoming (Missouri and Virginia both come to mind).

Shortly after one of these experiences, the kids and I traveled to South Carolina. The first local shop I popped into, the man said "Well, hello, darlin'! What can I help you with today?" 😊 Not that I need to be addressed with terms of endearment, but the difference was stark.
 
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Another thing that annoys me is that prices are missing from their products
Because they are high, I assume. I know entire stores with no prices listed.
So I won't shop there, it's their loss. This is very common, and large franchise
stores do this, also, probably on purpose. They want to surprise us.
If you have no choice about it, they know this. And some people don't care
but I do.
 
There once was a Mom n Pop store down the block from me. Occasionally their son would work there alone. I once bought a couple rolls of toilet tissue from them and when I removed the celephane off one, the awful smell of stale cigarette smoke wafted out of it. I told 'Mom' about it. She didn't say much, maybe she was worried I'd demand my money back, or whatever. I dropped the subject. I suspect she must have guessed that her son smoked cigarettes while on the job.
 
I'd rather shop online than in small stores because the selection is wider. There is a little shoe store nearby and I go in there and try things on sometimes, but they don't ever have my size (width really) in stock.

Sometimes what I buy on Amazon is from a small business, it usually states that in the description. Like this:
small business on Amazon.jpg
 
We live in the largest city in Canada, and here it is a very common thing to see a sign at the entrance of a store that says....WE speak the following languages here....With a list of all the languages that the staff can speak to you in. My CIBC bank branch has 11 staff who are multi lingual in at least 3 or more languages. Our Police service has over 6,000 officers, and amongst that number, at least 35 percent of them are multi lingual, at a high school level of ability in a second or third language, beside English or French.

Our local neighbourhood has a long main street, St Clair Avenue, that runs for miles across the city. IN one block there are all types of business operations, from pharmacies, to cafes, banks and clothing stores. My point? Everything that we need is available within a couple of miles of our house. JIM.
 
I miss the small hardware store where the owner knew all the products in their store and all you had to do was explain your problem and they would bring you the right solution.

There's a small hardware store within driving distance but its part of a chain. Often they don't have what I need.
 
The only small businesses I go to is my hair salon and a pharmacy/grocery store. They are both within walking distance (for me which isn't too far). Sadly the pharmacy/grocery store is in the process of closing and the people in my apartment building are really sad about it. They shopped there all the time even though it was quite expensive.

There are other small businesses along the main streets here but too far for me to walk. I order from Walmart and Amazon and sometimes with Instacart for the other grocery stores in my area.
 

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