The other day I had the pleasure of getting to walk over a block to the Lyric Theater and attend a presentation by the city about our continuing downtown development and the new Master Plan for downtown. It was exciting and informative, and I thank everyone involved for the way they keep the public engaged and informed (and participating) in downtown development.
Maybe a little over a month ago, I wrote a piece about how important it is – critical actually – to the survival of our culture and even Western civilization that we actively endeavor to support local, small businesses, especially by encouraging a vibrant, walkable downtown buzzing with locally owned such businesses.
There are always complainers and complaints, and usually, the things they complain about aren’t even true. I specifically referred to comments on a recent sad social media announcement about a small business downtown that was having to close its doors. The comments usually go along the lines of “See! Downtown revitalization is failing!” even though that isn’t even remotely true. As I’ve said before, we have more new businesses coming in and opening and expanding than we have had closures – and not all businesses closing are for the same reasons. Some people work hard, try hard, and still really struggle. This can be for legitimate economic reasons involving the economy, but it also can be for myriad other reasons. Bad management. Great management but a mediocre product(s). Great management, great products, but just a miss for this market. No, or misguided advertising. Bad signage. Sometimes there are very complicated reasons, and sometimes it’s just not going to work and we won’t know why. I remember there was a restaurant in a town where we lived that thrived at a location for decades, but they eventually had to close down because they just couldn’t pass a health inspection. A half dozen or dozen other restaurants tried to make it in the same location and never could make a go of it. Perhaps there were lingering “location” issues (bugs, pests, or the impression that they were still there.) No restaurant, no matter how good, could make it there. Finally, someone bought the property and bulldozed the building. They built a whole new restaurant on the site and it did well. As far as I know, it is still going strong. Once a business “ruins” a location in the minds of customers, sometimes it is hard for new management and a new business to make a go of it there. That’s just an example.
Sometimes, well, the business is poorly managed and run. I can usually walk in most businesses and within a visit or two I can tell you what is wrong and whether I think they are going to make it or not. Sometimes the solutions would be easy.
I’ll get back to “what’s wrong,” but I want to remind you that all of this is very, very important. In my opinion, it is more important even than elections. Because civilization itself is on the precipice. People who live in a city and do nothing but take their paychecks and spend it at Amazon, Walmart, and McDonalds or Whataburger are financing their own destruction. And these are the very people who complain the longest and the loudest.
For decades people thought “we have to have INDUSTRY! WE NEED FACTORIES!” And every city spent millions trying to lure in these huge boondoggles that never helped the city at all. They hired folks who spent their money at the big box stores and online and who ate at the huge chain restaurants. Then, again, they complain and complain about their taxes and how expensive everything is, etc. Meanwhile, those big corporations take their money and fund the very bullshit that is destroying civilization.
So, back to the other issue. Why do some businesses not make it? I was talking to a local business owner the other day and I told him about a visit I’d made to a new-ish restaurant recently in another town. I said, “Every restaurant/bar wants regulars – regular customers who come in regularly and spend money. But regulars can, if you let them, ruin your business.” And it’s true. “Regulars” (on average – not every single one, of course) spend less per visit than new visitors. Most regulars are there for the specials, the happy hours, and the deals. But the worst part is when they make it their own private club. They talk loudly and make visitors uncomfortable. I remember when I first moved to this area, to a small town near here. There was a small, local diner there. We’d walk in and everyone, of course, was a regular. They all talked very loudly and abrasively and treated “newbies” like they were California scum. They’d walk up to a table and start f-bombing and talking about their wife’s bunions or how they had to stick their arm elbow deep into a cow to pull a calf. They’d yell clear across the restaurant to have a conversation with that old sumbitch Bill. And those regulars at that diner came in and drank a coffee (with endless refills) and the $3.95 breakfast special. They were running off paying customers and doing it by spending almost no money.
We were in one place the other day and a lady sat at the bar talking very aggressively and loudly (because she is insecure and afraid) and again – dropping f-bombs the whole time. (When did this become normalized?) And then, later, you’d hear the business owner on social media or in person talking about how they just couldn’t make it. “People aren’t supporting it.” Let me guess… because new people came in once and never returned?
Hospitality-based businesses need to encourage regulars, but also train them not to act like this is their back porch or the locker room at the gym. Because it isn’t. And there are people going out of business soon enough who haven’t learned this.
Complainers will also always complain about prices (this while they drive up prices by artificially keeping the big box corporations around by crushing small, local businesses owned by local families.) But the high price complaint isn’t even accurate. A meme was buzzing around social media yesterday about a $28 receipt for just a burger and fries at Five Guys. I’ve spent (I’m guilty, very rarely, I know) $20+ at Whataburger on my way home from playing poker because no one downtown was open. Fast food isn’t cheap, and if you add in the medical cartel you’ll be paying for your last miserable years because of the crap you eat, it’s REALLY expensive. You can eat for less than that, even at some of the nicest restaurants downtown. And even if you can’t, you’ll get better food and more of it. I ate at one of the national chain, sit-down restaurants a year ago and it was a horrible experience: bad service, the food was like hospital food, and I was miserable the whole time. And guess what? For two of us, the bill + tip was over $60. We can eat gourmet quality food at Steve’s Deli for half that. Danielle and I can get a pizza and a soft drink at Pioneer Taphouse on Friday for $10. Add $7 for a beer for me, and we’re in and out for $20. That’s a whole pizza, too, for two people. And it’s one of the best pizzas in town. And we just helped stave off the apocalypse and the destruction of Western civilization. Sure, we could put on a “I Voted” sticker and pretend we are saving the world, but I’d rather do something that will actually work.
I’ve heard people complain that they don’t go to Fuzzy’s (locally owned by a great family) because “there isn’t good parking.” Bull. And so what? You can park and waddle a football field to Walmart and you can’t walk 30 yards to give some business to a local family? There’s ALWAYS parking by the courthouse, and that’s the same distance as where you usually need to park for Buffalo Wild Wings to treat your body like a dumpster, and your money stays local.
My whole point is… stop complaining and start picking a day out of the week to come downtown. Park. Walk around. Let me know when you’re coming and I’ll try to meet you. I’ll give you a tour.
Just stop complaining and help.
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Michael Bunker is a local columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose columns appear on Wednesdays and Sundays on the website.