GrandBob (of GrandBob’s Garden) stopped by with this comment. It’s too smart to keep to myself. (I added a few edits, but tried not to lose any of GrandBob’s personality.) –Becky I know of a small town locally with only 300 people. Main street is full of Businesses for sale. They have a library (where…
Finding time for writing or blogging can be tough for small business owners (and tourism professionals). We already have more than enough to do every day. So a few of us talked about finding time for writing the other night on BlogChat.* How to find time to blog or write: Always know what you’ll be…
Showrooming is a bit of a new trend. Your customers, even in small towns, are standing in your store and using their smartphone to compare your price with online retailers. If the product is cheaper at the online store, they order it immediately, and you just lost a sale. For small town retailers, this can…
A friend and small town resident, Ken Girty was taking a woodcarving class. The teacher sells rough outs (pre-shaped wood blocks to get your carving started) at his class. Ken bought one to work with in class. As the teacher came around to work one-on-one with Ken, he looked at the rough out Ken was…
If your small town is doing a good job of reclaiming vacant properties, here is your chance to share what you’ve learned. If you don’t speak up for small towns on this topic, who will? Waynoka, Oklahoma, has a foundationthat reclaims vacant properties. From their email: The Center for Community Progress is seeking session proposals…
One of our readers from Reimagine Goldendale asked this on Facebook: People are constantly being encouraged to shop local, but small town retailers have a tough time keeping their prices down when their wholesale costs can be so high. Do you have any advice on how to order wholesale so retail prices can be more…
Over at Michele Price’s site, a reader asked:How would one create a startup community in a more rural area where people don’t really get “the internet” and could care less about Facebook, Twitter, or ANY social networking/digital websites? Michele invited me to reply, and here’s the advice I offered: Our eclectic Alva meetup group welcomes…
My neighbors in Fairview, Oklahoma, have an excellent store-front improvement contest going on. And you can copy it. CJ’s Country Store has a nice frontin downtown Fairview, Oklahoma They’re giving businesses plenty of time, the qualifying period is June 1, 2012 ‐ September 30, 2013. They’re making it worth merchants’ time. 1st Place: $5,000 2nd Place:…
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