A quarter of a century ago, opening a retail store was much easier. Consumers regularly purchased staple items they needed. stores were not difficult to run and business was booming. Proprietors often felt like they were prime examples of individuals living the American dream. The neighborhood kids knew if they ever needed a job, they could look to one of the many neighborhood stores; candy store, drug store or local shoe store business. Some of these stores had been operated by the same family for generations. However, in today’s economy most of these mom and pop stores are being forced to close their doors. They are losing the struggle to just keep their businesses afloat.

Related: women’s shoes

Historically, most of these local businesses had survived competition from large department store chains. They managed to compete because they offered individual customer service. They were able to establish a steady flow of loyal customers. The neighborhood shoe store, for example, would let customers return a pair of shoes without a receipt, a gesture based on personal acquaintance with the customer and the assurance of a continuing relationship with him. Firmly established customer service bonds were better for business than mere bargain sales and discounts. The ability to offer this type of personal customer service is one of the main tactics small retail outlets were able to use to gain leverage over and compete with large department stores.

Since the development of the internet, small retail stores have had to compete not only with their local department store chains, but they now have to compete with online stores. The impact of these cyber-stores was slow at first, however, as more shoppers have begun to make online purchases. There’s no more going to your local shoe store; people started buying shoes online. As online retail stores flourished, your local merchants [experienced|started to see[/spin] a sharp decline. What is convenient for customers, it has begun to take a toll on local neighborhood stores.

In today’s economy, retail merchants face an even bigger challenge to their survival. With the banks in their current state, they’ve tightened the reins by decreasing merchant’s line of credit. This credit crunch has cause local merchants to turn to drastic measures. The owner of the local boots store, for example, may have to turn to using part of their retirement fund to purchase inventory or fund the marketing campaign. The merchant don’t have a large funding base to rely on. And, with banks lowering credit limits, they has even fewer financial options. And with the decline in business they are looking at the strong possibility of having to restructure their lives.

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