A Wall Street Journal article, “Local Efforts to Save Main Street Bring In Traffic“, confirms ‘buy local’ programs work — but are ‘shop local’ programs a long-term fix for a community’s small retail business? Probably not on its own.
Maybe ‘shop local / buy local / shop-at-home’ programs should not be expected to save small retail business. However, it could be a marketing piece that brings customers into the store, but small business had better be prepared to provide those customers with a shopping experience with value and a quality of place. Ideas on improving a small retail business in Hickman County, Tennessee can start at http://www.business.hickmantn.org/ or on this blog, http://blog.hickmantn.org/.
