Specialty Shop Survival

Have you noticed that big box retailers and huge discounters are popping up all around us? And have you noticed that as they do, some smaller stores are closing? Recently, just up the road, both Furrows and Hader Hardware closed within six months of the opening of the Home Depot in Miami Township!
Owning a small retail shop in today’s economic environment is really scary. Why do some of us survive despite the trend? We certainly can’t compete with the “big guys” on price or quantity but they can’t compete with us on quality or expertise. Wild About Birds is a specialty shop. Our customers are shopping for quality products that are unique and fairly priced; and the expertise you’ll find at my shop is priceless but we give it away for free!
Small retailers must find a niche; they must focus on servicing their specialty. Here’s a classic example that is repeated every year. Customer’s of Wild About Birds know that hummingbirds remain in our area through October. So in September they’ll wander into a Meijers to purchase some nectar mix or to replace a broken feeder. The conversation goes something like this: “What? No hummingbird feeders?!” “Of course not, ma’am! That’s a seasonal item. Hummingbirds are only here in the summer. But you know what?” whispers the clerk “There’s this backyard birdfeeding specialty shop right down the road…….”
Competition is a good thing: it keeps us on edge and forces us to really know our business, our vendors, and our customers. I attend trade shows and scour catalogs searching for products not carried at the large discount stores. My goal is to provide new and different solutions to my customers’ backyard birdfeeding challenges and to find gift items for the home and garden that enhance one’s appreciation of nature.
So, go ahead and shop the “competition”. Ask them how to keep the grackles from eating all your seed or what the name is of that little brown bird that hangs out in your garage or why the goldfinches stopped coming to your feeder. We’ll be waiting for you when you come back to Wild About Birds. We’re the survivors because we know you have a friend in California with a birthday in December and what they really need this year is a new hummingbird feeder.