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Practical ideas for small town business and community builders

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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Shopping bag full of gifts says, "Shift Your Shopping."
    economic development | entrepreneurship | marketing | shop local

    Holiday shopping campaigns besides “Shop Small”

    ByBecky McCray November 17, 2014April 14, 2016

    Small Business Saturday and its Shop Small slogan get a lot of attention, but they aren’t the only holiday shopping project small town businesses can join for more buzz this season. Shift Your Shopping Shift Your Shopping is a theme you can adopt for any local shopping campaign. The emphasis is on shifting more of…

    Read More Holiday shopping campaigns besides “Shop Small”Continue

  • Customers are switching to small retailers
    entrepreneurship | rural | shop local | trends

    Customers are switching to small retailers

    ByBecky McCray October 20, 2014October 19, 2014

    Last week, we talked about how big box retailers are getting smaller. Why is the big box retail sector making this expensive and difficult change to smaller stores? Because consumers have already started changing. Humorist David Sedaris summed up this consumer feeling in an interview. “I’d rather go to an actual shop — preferably a small…

    Read More Customers are switching to small retailersContinue

  • A brightly decorated store without any customers in it.
    economic development | entrepreneurship | trends

    Why big box stores are getting smaller and what that means to small towns

    ByBecky McCray October 13, 2014October 24, 2014

      “Everything gigantic in American [retail] is about to get smaller or die.” That’s the dramatic claim by contrarian economist James Kunstler,writing about the big retail sector in Business Insider. He says big retail is on the brink of scale implosion. Kunstler points to the same trends that are affecting small towns: online shopping, global delivery,…

    Read More Why big box stores are getting smaller and what that means to small townsContinue

  • 5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014
    entrepreneurship | marketing | Small Biz 100

    5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014

    ByBecky McCray September 15, 2014September 29, 2014

      In any retail business, the last quarter of the year may beat the entire rest of the year for sales. That’s enough reason to to pay extra attention to getting ready to make the most of it. Here are five of my ideas on how to get more people through your doors in the…

    Read More 5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014Continue

  • How pop-ups are working in one small town
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural

    How pop-ups are working in one small town

    ByBecky McCray December 9, 2013August 27, 2014

      Homewood, Illinois, isn’t a big city. Their population of 19,000 makes them a bigger small town, and they are a suburb of Chicago. So this isn’t a tiny town. But they do have a great pop-up retail program going that any town could try out. Here’s the story from their email newsletter, by Paula J….

    Read More How pop-ups are working in one small townContinue

  • 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops, and what we're all going to do about them.
    customer service | entrepreneurship | mistakes | rural

    Weakness 7. Failing the show-rooming test

    ByBecky McCray November 25, 2013August 27, 2014

    The 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops And what we’re all going to do about them. As we head into the busy holiday shopping season, we are seeing lots of Shop Local messages working to get customers to think about shifting their shopping more to local stores. I want to add another layer, and…

    Read More Weakness 7. Failing the show-rooming testContinue

  • 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops, and what we're all going to do about them.
    marketing | mistakes | rural

    Weakness 6. Not Marketing

    ByBecky McCray November 18, 2013August 27, 2014

    The 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops And what we’re all going to do about them. As we head into the busy holiday shopping season, we are seeing lots of Shop Local messages working to get customers to think about shifting their shopping more to local stores. I want to add another layer, and…

    Read More Weakness 6. Not MarketingContinue

  • 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops, and what we're all going to do about them.
    mistakes

    Weakness 5. Dated Appearance or Ugly Buildings

    ByBecky McCray November 11, 2013August 27, 2014

    The 7 Most Common Weaknesses of Local Shops And what we’re all going to do about them. As we head into the busy holiday shopping season, we’ll see lots of Shop Local messages working to get customers to think about shifting their shopping more to local stores. I want to add another layer, and get…

    Read More Weakness 5. Dated Appearance or Ugly BuildingsContinue

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