I’ve written more than a few stories in my nearly a year here in Chatham County about Chatham Park and the growing development here.
We’ve also looked into how that will affect what’s already here. But what about the small businesses?
For some insight, I turned to Jon Spoon, the director of the Small Business Center on Central Carolina Community College’s Pittsboro campus. Each of North Carolina’s community colleges have SBCs, which provide free assistance and education for small business owners in their respective communities.
Spoon and I chatted at his office about what role he wants the SBC to play, how small businesses can stand out from incoming big box stores and retail outlets and what shoppers should look for out of Chatham’s stores this holiday season. Here’s an excerpt from that conversation:
What role do you want the Small Business Center to play in Chatham County?
I really do think more and more it’s that local dot-connector role, whether it’s if people need to know what Chatham County office they need to talk to, zoning or planning. A lot of folks are moving into Chatham County and this area that aren’t from here, and so they really don’t know the landscape of how to get plugged in and who the right folks to talk to are. We bring a lot of experience — I’m from here and know it inside out. I like to think, if I don’t have the answer I know the resources to get people plugged into to get into it. Chatham County, I think we work really well collaboratively across all the departments to try and provide as good a service as we can for small businesses. We want to be the leader in providing trainings.
Do you have any concern about local small businesses with big developments and retail coming? Why or why not?
I’m a little concerned but not really all that much. That kind of small business apocalypse that happened in the 70s when, for the first time, they built bypasses and had a Walmart, that was when a lot of the downtown businesses were just generalist stores and people went there to get all their basic goods. All of a sudden, when they had to compete on price with Walmart, that put those businesses out. The businesses in Chatham County, they’ve been competing with the big box stores in Apex and online retailers for decades at this point. I do think that they understand they have to be different and offer some of those things that the big box stores don’t.
What are two or three ways for these small businesses to differentiate themselves from major stores and developments?
One of the main things is to really build relationships with your patrons. One of the ways that a small business can really differentiate themselves is just the quality of the personal experience that people get when they come to the shop. You’re not going to get the stories from the shopkeepers at a big box retail store. There’s really no story behind mass-produced clothing. You can build those relationships with small businesses. Sometimes you buy something when you go in the shop, and sometimes you come in and you just have a conversation with the shop owner and you don’t purchase anything that time. Building those kind of continual relationships and making it something where people want to come back is one way they can differentiate.
Another way is to make the shopping more of an experience, where it’s not just a purely transactional ‘I came here to get this list of things and get out of here as quickly as possible.’ You can make your shopping experience by hosting a local interest group that has something to do with what your business is doing or inviting a musician in on a Saturday afternoon to play in the background of shopping. Making your shopping experience much different than that big box retail store is a way to differentiate yourself as a small business.
What should Chatham residents know about local small businesses?
There’s just an amazing diversity of businesses. Some of these gemstones, you wouldn’t imagine finding them in Chatham County. You guys have written about Terry McInturff Guitars, where he’s made guitars for Eric Clapton and he’s right there in Siler City. There’s a nursery [Oakmont Nursery] in between Pittsboro and Siler City that has a variety of gardenia that they ship to Japan that they developed themselves and they have the patent for that. If you eat fruitcake around the holidays, there’s a good chance that it came from right here in Chatham County. It really is worth the trip to come down and get to know these places.
It’s holiday time: what can small businesses offer that big box stores and chains can’t?
I think they can offer that little special present for the holidays, the present that has the story behind it. You can get sheets or you can get a paintbrush anywhere at a big box retail store. If you just need the good, that’s great. But more and more, people want something that has some special sentimental value to it. They want something that’s soured locally. If you want to find something that’s made by an artisan or a craftsperson in Chatham County, chances are you’re not going to find it in a big box retail store. You’re going to find it in a small shop in one of these downtowns run by a local business owner. The most special presents that I get in the holidays are the ones that I open and it’s something beautiful, and then behind it, the cool part is learning the story behind that piece. And that’s something you’ll really only get from the small business experience.
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR, where he’ll be tweeting excitedly about his other big project, the new podcast “The Chatcast,” with the first season about teen mental health in Chatham available for free on December 13.