People who don’t understand commerce have a misconception
about chain stores. For some unknown
reason they purportedly put mom-and-pop stores out of business.
Chain stores must use magic.
I’ve worked with several thousand small businesses and lectured many thousands more on the subject of chain store competition. Chain stores generally bring more shoppers and more traffic to an area. If you are in an area that is benefiting from a chain store you need to know how to benefit.
First clean up your act. Time for a change. Most small retailers and single store operators are a sloppy mess, with dirty windows with the wrong product mix, little connection to their customers, no return policy, unresponsive employees and a reputation for grumpiness.
Second decide whether you really want to be in
business. Most small retailers are
bored to death with their stores and as soon as a real alternative business
arrives, they use that as an excuse to close up.
Third, if you still love your business and want to get a fresh start, you get the ripe low hanging fruit. Your business will become more successful because you know your clientele, you are loved by your customers and you can adjust your product mix to be highly specific to your community in a way that no chain store can.