(Part One Can Be Found HERE)
Small, according to author Seth Godin, means that the owner is closer to the people who work the business and that decisions can be made faster. Smaller, rather than bigger, means that there is more personal involvement and interaction.
When I go to a large, nation wide chain and make a purchase, it is likely that I will not know the store manager’s name nor the cashier. If I have a problem I will need to contact customer service which will bring me to yet another person. The whole experience can be rather soulless. Impersonal. My problem might not be taken seriously.
But if I go to a small business, like Orlando Candle company on North Lombard Street in my neighborhood, Tanya and Jonathon, the owners, greet me with smiles and hugs and southern drawls of, “Hey you, how you been doin’?”
We catch up about each other’s lives. They inquire about my family, I ask how business is doing.
The guy at Target? I don’t even know his name.
This has mostly not mattered to me. As a consumer, I am usually interested in where I can find the best value for whatever I’m looking for. I’ve enjoyed shopping at large discount stores for most of my life. The wide selection, the rock bottom prices, stores like Wal-Mart and Target help women like me obtain items I need for my household and my family.
But something has changed in recent years. Suddenly, or maybe it was gradually, I began to prefer going to small shops owned and operated by locals. I used to avoid these kinds of businesses. They were too intimate. I didn’t want to shop alone in a small store with the owner eyeing me the whole time. It felt awkward, causing me to feel inhibitive. (probably because I have some intimacy issues!)
But now, the very thing that once caused me anxiety as a shopper, is now the very thing that I find compelling. I like getting to know my shopkeepers and hearing their stories. I like knowing that my business is truly helping them right now and today to make a living in our community. Small shops are the new, big rage, especially here in Portland.
Orleans Candle Company is a great example. I noticed their sign up on the busy boulevard not far from my home for several months. But I would just zoom by, even though the sign and the shop looked promising. I’ve been a candle lover for years so I’m always intrigued to explore a new candle place.
I decided that the first year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was the perfect and most fitting day to finally check their business out.
When I walked in, I was promptly greeted by an enthusiastic curly brown haired woman who hugged me before I knew what was happening. I know a thing or two about southern hospitality but even Miss Tanya was more enthusiastic than many southern women I’ve known.
We got to talking and before long, we both stood there crying as she recounted losing her home and business just one year ago. Because of that heartfelt connection, and that she and Jonathon carry a superb line of handcrafted candles and affordable candle supplies, I have been a loyal and happy customer ever since.
There is a desire in me now, don’t ask me why, to have this kind of intimate, personal interaction with the people I give my money to.
Why is this? Why not be content with being anonymous when it comes to my shopping needs? Isn’t bigger better since big box stores can offer crazy discounts and wider selection with their volume buying power?
“Wandering into a cavernous Wal-Mart is a desolate experience. Cheap, but cheap in every way. Wandering through town where you depend on the people around you, and they depend on you – that’s called living. Humans were built for it."
Corporate life is fading, from the economy to businesses and faith communities, small is the new preferred size over the mega models. Microtrends are becoming micro lifestyles as people, including Christians, are discovering that bigger is not necessarily better.
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anyone else notice she called it "Orlando Candle" the first time?
;)
just picking on you, Pam.
just wanted to let you know, I broke down (relapsed?) and started a new blog. It's chad's fault.
I wrote this about 8 years ago...
The first thing we forget is what we’re really trying to do
I feel lost…
I’m in Home Depot. A series of consumer canyons tower menacingly overhead.
All I need is a thingamajig. Where is it and who cares?
My eyes quickly scan the horizon of stuff looking for a little “just in time” customer service.
I want to scream…
Take your eyes off those boxes
Get down off that stupid ladder
Quit visiting with your co workers
Don’t pick up that phone
Pay attention to me!
It’s pointless.
I finally get it
I’m an interruption
An irritation
They’d prefer I wasn’t in their building
They’ve forgotten why they went into business
Not to count boxes
Not to visit with each other
Not to ignore the customer
But to… pay attention to the customer
This is often how Christians “feel” to the people formerly known as lost
They think we see them as an interruption to our real work – (going to church).
We’ve forgotten what we’re really trying to do in the first place…
i am busted. jas, you win the proofreader's prize which is a one-year free subscription to this blog!!! :-)
so let me know where your new blog is. Who is Chad??
Hey Jim, thanks for that.
Not to count boxes
Not to visit with each other
Not to ignore the customer
But to… pay attention to the customer
totally. pay attention. to others. yep. thoughts, words and deeds.
pay-->honor the worth
attention--> focused effort
thanks for the reminder that it's the small everyday interactions of noticing one another and paying attention that emit God's love...
A similar experience for me. I bought a wonderful chili powder blend from a small business off Alberta. Then they disappeared. But I found that they are in the process of setting up a website and soon will have their stuff in New Seasons markets. Check them out:
http://www.spiceroadmarket.com/
pam,
i totally get what your saying in all of this. it is so nice to be able to walk into a store and be nicely greeted and feel very welcome as opposed to walking into target and there is a big old camera in there face. and wal-mart is just the same hey if it wasn't so big and all over the united states nobody would shop there. small family owned businesses are nice but there not always convient to most people bu target is and yea there clothes are nice(but there shoes suck trust me on that one) i quess what im tring to say is the need for money is so big the only retailers that care about the cutomer anymore are small owned businesses so i guess being small is really better than being big. and i deffinately like being small.
AUNDREA PALMER
:)
Wal-Mart employees need love too! Their names are right on their tags, so you don't even have to learn it to use it.