I've been watching with interest the startup of Paizano's Pizza in Baker City.
Kina recently posted the following under an entry called Full Disclosure, so I think it's O.K. to reproduce:
"It wasn’t cheap to open this place. We’re paying out the nose to make it work. But we believe in it. We believe in our product, we believe that this town can support it, wants it, and will continue to make it work. We obviously can’t do it alone. We aren’t the richies from Bend. We work incredibly hard and we are true to everything we do or say."
She's being just a bit circumspect about what's going on, but I can guess.
When we first opened our (3rd) store in Redmond, we felt very welcomed by the community. Redmond was less than half the size it is now, and still a very small town. But we were told that the town needed a store like us, and we were rewarded with pretty good business for a year or two.
And then, one day, business fell off the table. My manager finally informed me that a store two doors down from us was carrying sports cards. I had talked to one of the owners of that store quite often, not realizing I was being pumped for information. It even turned out they were sending their kid down every day to check our prices, and then systematically pricing slightly lower. (Which is known as 'cut-throat.')
Thing is, they proclaimed themselves as 'true' Redmondites; that we were rich carpetbaggers from Bend who were strictly in it for the money. That we charged too much. These people had kids in the local school system, and belonged to a rather large church that turned out to be a significant number of collectors and so forth.
I have to tell you, the Redmond store was always fringe -- it didn't take much to get us to leave.
I remember the HUGE feeling of relief when we closed.
Six months later, our competitor was also gone.
Small towns are funny creatures. They will welcome the 'new kid' in town; they will welcome any business that is different and creative; but there is a negative side to small towns. They tend to be very suspicious of outsiders, very clannish. The smaller the town, the more they are that way.
So much so, I swore I'd never open in another small town. The margin for error is just too small. Of course, Redmond is twice that size now, and by definition most of the residents aren't 'local' in the traditional sense.
I'm not all that sorry that Bend has gotten big enough that no one group of customers, no one clan can put me out of business if they don't like the way I do things, no one rumor campaign or bad mouthing campaign can drive away every customer. There is room for diversity in Bend.
The irony, of course, is that I'm not adverse to playing the 'local' card myself.
All the time.
But hopefully, I'm not using it as a bludgeon on other newer businesses.
Every time I talk about being a "native Bendite" I'm playing that card. Every time I talk about being in business for 28 years, in downtown Bend, I'm playing that card.
And of course, complaining about 'gentrification' is in a sense playing the 'local' card -- with the imputation that the 'newcomers' are forcing out the locals. Every time I talk about people having lived here "five minutes" I'm implying I'm an old timer. But, hopefully, I'm open to new experiences. I shake my head sometimes at what I see, but I'm bemused by much of it as well.
As I've said, it's not like I was ever part of some 'in' crowd.
Still, I think in every case it's a very small minority of people who try to hurt you using these techniques; and the best advice I can give is to pretty much ignore it, to take the high road. You can't put much more of stake in a community than moving there and opening a business.
Eventually, you become the 'local.'
Kina recently posted the following under an entry called Full Disclosure, so I think it's O.K. to reproduce:
"It wasn’t cheap to open this place. We’re paying out the nose to make it work. But we believe in it. We believe in our product, we believe that this town can support it, wants it, and will continue to make it work. We obviously can’t do it alone. We aren’t the richies from Bend. We work incredibly hard and we are true to everything we do or say."
She's being just a bit circumspect about what's going on, but I can guess.
When we first opened our (3rd) store in Redmond, we felt very welcomed by the community. Redmond was less than half the size it is now, and still a very small town. But we were told that the town needed a store like us, and we were rewarded with pretty good business for a year or two.
And then, one day, business fell off the table. My manager finally informed me that a store two doors down from us was carrying sports cards. I had talked to one of the owners of that store quite often, not realizing I was being pumped for information. It even turned out they were sending their kid down every day to check our prices, and then systematically pricing slightly lower. (Which is known as 'cut-throat.')
Thing is, they proclaimed themselves as 'true' Redmondites; that we were rich carpetbaggers from Bend who were strictly in it for the money. That we charged too much. These people had kids in the local school system, and belonged to a rather large church that turned out to be a significant number of collectors and so forth.
I have to tell you, the Redmond store was always fringe -- it didn't take much to get us to leave.
I remember the HUGE feeling of relief when we closed.
Six months later, our competitor was also gone.
Small towns are funny creatures. They will welcome the 'new kid' in town; they will welcome any business that is different and creative; but there is a negative side to small towns. They tend to be very suspicious of outsiders, very clannish. The smaller the town, the more they are that way.
So much so, I swore I'd never open in another small town. The margin for error is just too small. Of course, Redmond is twice that size now, and by definition most of the residents aren't 'local' in the traditional sense.
I'm not all that sorry that Bend has gotten big enough that no one group of customers, no one clan can put me out of business if they don't like the way I do things, no one rumor campaign or bad mouthing campaign can drive away every customer. There is room for diversity in Bend.
The irony, of course, is that I'm not adverse to playing the 'local' card myself.
All the time.
But hopefully, I'm not using it as a bludgeon on other newer businesses.
Every time I talk about being a "native Bendite" I'm playing that card. Every time I talk about being in business for 28 years, in downtown Bend, I'm playing that card.
And of course, complaining about 'gentrification' is in a sense playing the 'local' card -- with the imputation that the 'newcomers' are forcing out the locals. Every time I talk about people having lived here "five minutes" I'm implying I'm an old timer. But, hopefully, I'm open to new experiences. I shake my head sometimes at what I see, but I'm bemused by much of it as well.
As I've said, it's not like I was ever part of some 'in' crowd.
Still, I think in every case it's a very small minority of people who try to hurt you using these techniques; and the best advice I can give is to pretty much ignore it, to take the high road. You can't put much more of stake in a community than moving there and opening a business.
Eventually, you become the 'local.'