When you re-think place, you can turn an un-used corner in a bakery into a temporary retail space. Photo from Webster City, Iowa, by Becky McCray.
Small towns are by definition a limited market. If you are depending on just your locals for all of your customers, you are limiting the growth of your business.
You may need to reach beyond the geographic limits to find enough customers to be sustainable. So think of ways you can get beyond the borders. Rethink place.
- Can you make some sales online?
- Can you load up in a trailer and go to nearby markets?
- Can you do a pop-up temporary shop in another town for a big festival?
- Can you open a second location, maybe inside another store in another town?
My friend Rob was telling me about an ice skating shop that is located with an ice rink and arena. Whenever the local hockey games at the arena are canceled, the shop loses sales. Then five months out of the year, they have almost no foot traffic to the arena, so they do almost no business. I suggested using a trailer to get mobile for holiday sales. Find a friendly parking lot to set up in, and be where the customers are.
In Webster City, Iowa, I saw a bakery/coffee shop/ice cream shop that had a single shelf of retail space filled by another local retailer. They even had a rack of books by a local author. All of these businesses together were re-thinking place.
Spend some time with those questions, and I bet you’ll come up with some creative ways to supplement your small local population and build a stronger business.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- How small town businesses can market to remote workers and turn them into new customers - May 15, 2023
- Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results - May 8, 2023
- Rural and small town ideas from the OU Placemaking Conference IQC 2023 - April 5, 2023
- Rural tourism trends say small towns are still cool - March 27, 2023
- Move Your Money and Bank Local - March 22, 2023
- Using a building as a warehouse or storage in a small town? Put up a sign - March 13, 2023
- How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores - February 19, 2023
- Check your small business website for outdated pandemic changes, missing info - January 31, 2023
- Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors - January 15, 2023
- 2023 trends for rural and small town businesses - December 26, 2022
