• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Using a building as a warehouse or storage in a small town? Put up a sign

By Becky McCray

A building used as business storage with an old faded sign that says "Carrier Air Conditioning"

Repurposing empty buildings as business storage or a warehouse is a common small business practice in small towns. Putting up a sign is a good idea for at least two reasons.  Retail businesses may be storing extra merchandise. Manufacturers might have extra materials or finished product ready to ship. Service and repair companies have to […]

March 13, 2023 Filed Under: economic development, mistakes, rural Tagged With: community development, emtpy buildings, non-retail, retail, rural, service businesses

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

By Becky McCray

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

  If you have a retail store in a small town, you know how difficult it can be to attract customers in the door. With so much online competition and limited resources, it is hard to get people in the store and buying your products. In this article, we’ll share some of our best ways […]

February 19, 2023 Filed Under: Best of, marketing, rural, shop local Tagged With: effective marketing, entrepreneurship, retail, shop indie local, shop local, shop small, small business, small business success, store

2023 trends for rural and small town businesses

By Becky McCray

Finding rural trends buried in big reports Business Insider rounded up the trends reports from LinkedIn, Pinterest and other social-driven sites. They didn’t dig out the best trends for rural businesses and small town entrepreneurs, so I did that for you. Retail is recycling Pinterest points to vintage and mixed decor trends. That’s a good […]

December 26, 2022 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, rural, social media, tourism, trends Tagged With: ecommerce, GenZ, influencer marketing, innovation, materials, retail, sustainability, vintage

Holiday 2022 Marketing: Introduce your people

By Becky McCray

There's still time to Shop Indie Local, the Santa Cat says

We’re all using the same marketing theme this year: Shop Indie Local. When we work together to spread the word, we’ll multiply how many customers we reach. Learn more from AMIBA, the Shop Indie Local lead sponsor. This week, introduce one of your people, the people who work for you or work with your customers. If you’re the […]

November 29, 2022 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, shop local Tagged With: retail, shop indie local, shop local, shop small

Next Page »

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local" Move Your Money, bank local, invest local Multicolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week" Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

Holyoke Hummus Company cart

How one food business keeps adapting, from table to cart to truck, to restaurant and back again

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

Newspaper story headline says, "Made in Dorrigo Markets a bustling success"

Boost your maker economy with a “Made in” day

Handmade afghan showing a dutch oven over a fire, with the words "7th Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off and Fall Festival, Avard, Oklahoma"

How a ghost town made something from nothing with a folk festival

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2023 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in