Small Business and Local Communities

Local communities have always been centered around their places of business. Their comradery, relationships, and dependencies amongst each other in exchanging services and goods are believed to be the basis of all communal living. This leads to customers knowing who the shop owners are at a more friendlier level. Also the fact that this familiarity has a positive impact when it comes to receiving the best service that one can possibly hope for.

Large corporations have now taken the place of those generous local shopkeepers though the realm of convenience. It is seldom the fact that the local customers knows that cashier at Walmart, or it is hardly a concern for that cashier who’s stuck working on minimum wage to be conscious about the customer’s need and preferences. That is why the communal aspect of shopping or any business interactions are going extent.

Although some may believe that this is a problem and this will inevitably lead to the death of local communities, I do not see it that way.

First of all, communal spirit hardly ever depends on the fact of who you are interacting with on a day to day basis. It is perhaps better that you’re next door neighbor is the local grocery store owner, but that does not necessarily translate into you having a good relationship with him or her. Community is about commonality among the values and principles you share. And in that respect, any race, religion, creed or profession can not be in the way of you feeling comfortable around your surroundings, or you keeping a good relationship with the people in your social circle.

By this logic, community has a much deeper root in people’s understandings, and therefore it does not really matter if the local businesses are of any significance when it comes to who you choose to care for in your surroundings.