Without making people mad! One common small town parking complaint is business staff taking up customer parking. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this brought up in discussing downtown businesses. Sometimes business owners or business employees park right in front of their business or along the Main Street. They might park out…
— How many times have you heard it? Someone lamenting, “There’s nothing to do here!” Worse yet, hearing someone tell visitors that. “What is there to do around here?” “Nothing, really. I don’t know.” Enough with that. Let’s give people an easy way to answer, and let’s do it the Idea Friendly way. Make a…
In the small town of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, Marilyn Pope Francis ran a restaurant with a fenced patio for tables and chairs. She set up hot serving dishes and a cold drinks station in the gazebo to serve customers. Here’s the part where we learn that Marilyn is a low-key business genius. Next to…
Uniontown, Washington, (population 300) has a strong base of arts, artisan and craft entrepreneurship. When I toured Uniontown, a woman spoke up who wants to start a quilt retreat, a place for people to come and quilt together. More than a local quilting bee, she’s imagining a full retreat space. She owns a historic home…
Any business can offer pet friendly amenities In 2023, SaveYour.Town identified pet friendly communities as a Top Topic. Here’s an example of a business offering a pet friendly amenity. In Palouse, Washington, a local veterinarian has an office in the downtown. Out front, they’ve installed a small patch of artificial turf as a pet relief…
Marketing tip: keep signs up year-round even if you’re a seasonal business. When I toured several small towns in Washington and Idaho with the Inland Northwest Partners, I noticed many part-time and seasonal businesses did not have signs up during their off season. In the town of Deary, Idaho, (population 500) there is a wine…
Waynoka, Oklahoma, had a lot of vacant run-down buildings in their downtown. In a town of 900 people, the prospects didn’t look great. At an all-class reunion, a group of alumni got together and decided to change that. They called themselves Project Waynoka, our friend and early contributor Jeanne Cole said. They started raising money….
The “Move Your Money” campaign wants you to shift your financial resources to local banks and investment opportunities. That makes a lot of sense for small town businesses who care about having a thriving local economy. The 2024 Move Your Money Campaign The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) has been at the forefront of the…
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