Contributed by Shiloh Brielle
Retail is dying. Can you hear the death rattle?
Small business is being left to rot in the gutter while Amazon continues to grow and thrive. As a local small business owner, it is disheartening to see the change in shopping habits. What is even more disturbing, is the complete lack of manners or even just a sliver of common decency at times.
It has become a blood sport to watch our dollars flow out of our state - to see the Amazon Prime boxes pile up in people’s arms - to watch as Jeff Bezos surpassed Bill Gates in financial stature. In the spirit of J.M. Barrie, “Every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies’, there is a little fairy somewhere that falls down dead.”
The same could be said of the dreaded Amazon/Online shopper. Every 1-click purchase you make online, a small business fighting to survive, dies a little. Over time, the little bits become huge bits ending in a death rattle.
Next time you purchase something online instead of purchasing locally, remember those small businesses with very real people struggling to stay alive. As you 1-click that supremely discounted item, imagine them dropping to the ground dead.
Time is money and we’ve given you all of it. You burn our time asking questions, handle our products then walk out the door to ‘1-click’ away.
We’ve lost count of how many times we have heard to our faces or loudly proclaimed in the space of our little family run business, “Buy it on Amazon, it’s cheaper.” - “I bought it online.” - “Oh, I just wanted to check A, B, C, before I buy it.” After speaking to multiples of other small businesses who have similar stories to tell, it’s a stark picture to behold.
Suggestions: have some manners; dig that common decency out of its decaying state; don’t walk into a small business complaining about not being able to give you something at below their cost. Please stop taking pictures of the ISBN number so you can buy it online. We know what you are doing. We are not stupid. You are killing us - we get it. Thank you.
Small business is dying. We are to blame - not the economy, not who is president, not who is in office or because it snowed. It is, surprisingly, not even Amazon’s fault - it is ours, the consumer.
Be thoughtful everyone, please. Shop locally. Save a family business. If you cannot or will not do that, please do not rub salt in the wound by flashing your decision in our faces.
