Overcoming objections

Since the appearance of my previous letter in the Forum, I have received a lot of feed back from the community. Some of it is touching. I heard a story of one woman who had moved away several years ago and then recently moved back. She has been disappointed by the city and the attitudes of the people. When she read my letter she felt that at least there is hope for us. Some of it is quite funny. People call and tell me of their shopping adventures, or they stop me on the street, point to a bag, and let me know that they spent $6.00. Some of it is dutiful. People come in to my store and announce that they are here to spend their $5.00; and believe me, it is appreciated. I applaud you all, this is what I’m talking about.
However, two comments have surprised me, and since they were made by people who purportedly are working for the betterment of our downtown I was flabbergasted. The first one was “I’m certainly not going to buy something I don’t need.” and the second was “Some of these stores don’t deserve our business.”
After hearing the first comment I was alarmed! Had I inadvertently suggested that citizens squander their hard earned money needlessly on Western Avenue? I looked back on what I had written. No, I had not, and I quote, “Take $5.00 and visit a business that you think has nothing you want. Introduce yourself and buy something you can use.” The question of need is a relative one anyway. For instance, I don’t need those beers or those chocolate bars, but I buy them because I feel like it. I’m not recommending that you spend your money on unnecessary plastic objects. The stores on Western have good, useful things, and also things you may just feel like buying because they’re cool or delicious.
In regard to the second comment: After further inquiry, I discovered that the reason that the person felt that certain stores did not deserve our business, is that they are dirty, disorganized, unfriendly, they don’t keep regular hours, etc., etc., etc. Before you jump all over me, let me say this: I know all about Store X, and how dreadful it was. They are closed now and we have another vacant storefront. There is a store that people complained made Western Avenue look like Maxwell Street. They are closing also and we will have another vacant storefront. Is this what we want for our city? Being a small business owner is like being a single mother of quintuplets; you do everything yourself. Bookkeeping, buying, customer service, maintenance, advertising, the list goes on and on. Many of us cannot afford to hire help, and we do the best we can. So forgive us if the windows are dirty, or there are packing peanuts on the floor. I think I speak for 99% of us when I say that we would do better if we could. We would hire help, or hire more help. It all comes down to money, really; just like most everything else in life. That $7.5 million is looking awfully good, so let me ask you again; Where do you spend your money?
Just for clarification, in case you missed my last letter, here is a portion of that: Approximately 10,000 adults live here. (If each of them spent an average of ) $5.00 a day (on Western Avenue), that would be $50,000.00 a day, $350,000.00 a week, $1,500,000.00 a month, and $7,500,000.00 by the end of this year. That type of investment would be huge. The city would be thriving.