What can we do as a local independent store?
Yesterday, on my day off, I attended a one-day seminar for the first time in a while.
Although the rain forecast was wrong, I hadn't been outside in the daylight for about a month, so my energy was low. I was staggering around and my face was completely white before I arrived at the venue.
Koku Cafe, who happened to see the owner, gave a warm comment saying, "She looked like an old lady, holding a handkerchief over her mouth and holding a parasol."
Now then…
It was supposed to be a marketing seminar, but personally, the content made me think about the role of my store in the local community and society.
As a local shop in the downtown area, it is a focal point for the community...
One of the things that Usagi and I value as a shop is the theme of being "rooted in the community."
Articles written during Golden Week But as I wrote, to put it simply, I think it means that "both our store and ourselves need this community and we need to become a presence that is needed by this community."
The words are the same as the philosophy of the welfare facility where the couple previously worked.
Being a store that is rooted in the community and is needed by the local community means that people in the community are proud to have the store there.
A store that people will want to tell others about in their hometown, that they can rely on when something happens, and that they will feel a sense of attachment to... A store that has a soft connection with local people, interacts with them on a daily basis, and is naturally involved in local issues.
When we talk about our ideal store, we often describe it as "an old-fashioned, privately owned shop like the ones you'd find in a downtown shopping district," and that's really what it feels like.
What makes the ideal company not "old-fashioned" is that it "has a local perspective" and "utilizes social media."
The shop is not located in a busy downtown area, but in a residential area in the downtown area.
Since opening, we have become even more conscious of the theme of "local community."
What can we do for the community and society? This is the key to success for a store in the future.
Recently, I've come to realize just how significant it is for independent shops to exist in local areas.
Work is about doing what you can to help someone .
This is something I've written about before. It's something that we base our work on.
I think that before we start selling products or services, we need to continue to think carefully about the nature of the store itself.
As society progresses, what we can do will change little by little. We hope that the way our store operates will change accordingly.
Usagi and I cherish the image of being a "traditional downtown store" and continue to explore ways to connect with the local community, but even if you're not a downtown store like ours, I think it's important to think about what you can do as a store for the community and society, and what issues you can solve.
The answer to this question may be the most important requirement for independent stores to continue to exist in the future...
I was thinking about this while listening to the seminar.
Related Articles (please read them too)
・What kind of atmosphere would be ideal for the store?
・The way they deal with children having fun in the store is just like an old-fashioned downtown store...
