Today it seems like we are all about bigger is better. We live busy lives and one stop shopping is best. We don’t have time to run to five different stores to get all the ingredients for tonight’s dinner. We can’t stop at the local pharmacy to pick up our medicine, we don’t stop at the corner store for milk and bread, nor do we really need to go to the malls for our clothes nowadays. The internet is killing businesses because we never have to leave our homes to get the latest designer jeans or shoes, we just click, “Add to Shopping Cart” on the computer screen and than “Checkout.” In three days it’s at our front door. No trip in the car, no gas needed, no mileage being put on your engine. But, did you ever stop to think about the small businesses in your area and how they will survive when the big businesses monopolize the world?
I can speak from a lot of experience when it comes to a family owned and operated small business. My family owns hoagie shops. We have three delis and they are in Chester, Pennsylvania. Ask any local and they will know the name, Furillo’s. My grand-father started the business and we have kept it going strong for over fifty years now. It’s our livelihood, our family tradition.
We always give back to the community. We are there to sponsor sport teams, churches, schools, and the people. We get raked over the coals with big taxes considering we are a small business. It’s hard to find people to work, be loyal, timely, and honest. It’s a tough job, but it’s what my family does so you take the good with the bad.
I like shopping at Target. They have everything you need: designer named clothes, shoes, handbags, accessories, electronics, outdoor living, kitchen appliances, and so much more. As if this were not enough, now they have added a supermarket to make it a “Super Target.” You can buy frozen food, fruits, vegetables, meat, canned, and boxed food. It’s a grocery store just an aisle away from Isaac Mizrahi’s trendy new trench coat. Oh, and don’t forget your beauty supplies, and your on the spot pharmacy while you shop! Wow, this is a real time saver for the average shopper!
But, to the small businessman who has been working his hands to the bones his whole life this is-the end. It’s the end of an era, the end of his career, the end of his life as he has always known it. He now has to raise his prices to compete with big business and once he does that nobody wants to come buy his products because the price is too high.
Everyone wants a sale and on the flip side of that coin, everyone else wants a job. Yes, things change and the ways of the world are certainly proving so. Big business has taken over.
Do we really need “Super” Wal-Mart’s and “Super” Targets? Is it necessary to have a drugstore on every corner? If I see one more CVS, Walgreen’s, or Rite Aide go up alongside each other…I’m going to boycott. Seriously, do we need another bank on the local busy strip? I can’t even count how many are on the main road in my town. Bet you have more than enough of these big businesses too.
I needed some cold medicine so I stopped in my local pharmacy. “The Boothwyn Pharmacy” is an old fashioned pharmacy that I have been going to since I was a baby. Whenever I walk into this place it smells like Bengay, Luden’s cherry cough drops, and rock candy that’s been in the glass container for years. I love it. They know my name and my entire family. They remember when my grandmother used to bring me in to get prescription medicine because she picked me up sick from school. They have known me for thirty-three years. It’s nice to go where everybody knows your name. And, I still go there even though I moved a little further away. It’s not super convenient, but I’m loyal.
How about the local hardware store in your neighborhood, do you still have one? I bet you do not. Lowes and Home Depot killed the little man there too. I can think of hundreds of businesses that the big businesses have put out of business. But, you would be reading this far too long.
I have watched my father, mother, aunt, and uncle go to work and break there backs day in and day out. They stand on their feet all day long with aches and pains to put food on the table, clothes on their children’s backs, and education in our brains. They have worked so hard with little vacation. Someone will say, “That’s their own fault, or they should enjoy life more.” I say, “Having your own business is good and bad, if you aren’t open you aren’t making money, and without money you can’t pay the bills.” You will never know until you own a business.
Working hard is all my family has ever known. That small family owned and operated business has given we the wings to fly. It’s there that I learned to deal with all walks of life, where I learned to appreciate the value of a dollar, where I most definitely formed my personality, and above all, where I learned to work hard for myself and my family. No other lesson in life was or will be greater than this for me.
I say to every shopper out there- take time for the little people. Take that extra five minute trip to your meat market, your local grocery store, the pharmacy, the hardware store, the hoagie shop, the pizza place, and your corner convenient store. Make small business your business.
Every time I see the bull’s eye on the Target store I get a little sick because smack dab in the center is every small business they have killed. Not just Target but every big business. It really is our business to save the small businesses in America. The mom and pop stores need our help to survive. After all, that is what once made America strong and opportunistic…the small businessman.
