Letters (August 20, 2014)

We make or break local businesses

The recent Hillsboro City Council decision brings up the opportunity to discuss small-town problems. The discord seems to be directed toward the city council and its decision to sell land to a developer for a mystery company.
While I certainly understand the concept of trying to insulate our current locally owned businesses from the potentially disastrous competition of outside larger firms, I would also say that our nation is founded on the concept of compete, differentiate, or find something else to do.
I am a small-business person as well, so I certainly understand the idea of competition and profit. The city council did exactly what it legally had to do. Businesses cannot expect the city to take a position that would potentially land them in court on the losing end of an expensive lawsuit.
I will say it is unfortunate that we may have a new business that directly competes with some well-known and well-respected businesses within our community. I, however, would challenge these businesses to find a way to be proactive.
Find a way to differentiate your brand from that of the others. Find a way to create brand loyalty. Find a way to get involved in making people understand what you offer to the community. Get the community on your side.
This is not suggesting that these things are not already being done, but get better at it. This does not mean whip the community into a frenzy about a new business. Don?t make misleading statements as this only makes you look petty and desperate. (Think of political ads you don?t like.)
Make no mistake, the new business has plenty of marketing specialists and social media analysts who will for sure make a splash to get people in the doors, but you as local owners need to be tough and fight for what you stand for. If you are in front of the wave, you will have a better chance to ride it.
However, local businesses are not all to blame for a loss of customers to another business. We as community members need to have a change of heart. I remember a time when we could get pretty much anything in Hillsboro. To an extent that is still true, but many of us work out of town and we think it is nice to stop outside our community for groceries or something at a ?cheap? price.
I am not immune to the thought either, but a few years ago my wife and I spent some time researching prices, convenience and availability. What we found is that so many times these big stores are not cheaper and, in general, options are available if you ask.
Big businesses are savvy with marketing and many times one or two items turns into a full-blown shopping spree that netted us things we didn?t need. We made a decision to shop Hillsboro when possible.
What is amazing to me is that some of the people who don?t want this new business are the same people who spend their money in other towns and counties, giving them the sales tax and opportunity for those communities to spend more on the infrastructure that we beg for in a tight city budget stretched by the demands of the people?s needs.
As consumers, we (and our families) need to figure out why we are unhappy by this revelation of a new business. Do we really support our locals or do we find it convenient to go out of town? However, we wouldn?t want to lose that local business for that one last-minute item we forgot?
If you haven?t found what you want locally, have you ever asked whether they can get it for you? How much does it cost to drive 30 miles, and are you really gaining that back when you spend $100 in another community?
I believe there is plenty of business to go around if we would all spend our time and effort to keep money in our community. I believe this is what the mystery business is looking at as well.
Believe me, this business has done a lot of study, and if there wasn?t sufficient business to support it they wouldn?t be coming here.
Now, that may be predicated by the prices some businesses charge. I can?t and will not support a total low-cost approach. If we band together as a community, I believe we can have the best of both worlds. This includes new jobs, and a better community.
I will not subscribe to the NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) theory. You either are growing or dying, and as a lifetime resident we need new people and ideas to avoid being a ghost town.
This is not a city council problem. Only we, as community members, can make or break our local businesses.
Kevin Suderman
Hillsboro

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