Mom & Pop Businesses in Iron River

I drove down Genesee street on Labor Day,
September 7, 2009. I observed one place
of business open and ready to provide
service to people, that was the Main
Street Cafe. Everything else was closed.

These are the people who all year long,
especially in mid-winter, are crying on
the radio with "support your local
merchants." But they are only there for
us, and for tourists, when they wish to
be. If being in business is an inconvenience
to them, they close whenever the whim and
will strikes.

Take a clue, mom & pop business, if you're
closed because it is convenient for you
to take a day off, you're making what in
many parts of the US is called "a fashion
statement." You're not in business to do
business, you're just making believe. I
have no respect for your investment in
time and money, you're there as a hobby
shop.

That brings me to E&E hardware, next door
to Angeli's supermarket. When I asked about
something not ordinarily stocked, the
manager literally shut down and refused to
check a catalog to see if it was available
through his wholesaler. Now there's a
hobby shop in spades. I've NEVER EVER
had such a thing happen anywhere else. It was
a very simple "I'm sorry, I can't help you."
The usual reply is to work to make the sale,
but that doesn't happen at E&E. This is a
hobby shop in spades. I won't waste my time
on them because they are there for convenient
sales only. I'll always reward the merchant who
goes that extra bit, the merchant who wants to
make the hard sale, because I'll keep coming
back for the easy ones.

Downtown Iron River was the ghost town that
the future promises because of the way the
merchants are behaving. If you actually were
open as a matter of routine, your sales would
eventually increase.

I went over to the Riverside Mall and
discovered that all the businesses were
alive and well, doing a heavier than the
usual Monday trade. Similarly, the business
street in Eagle River was busy with last
minute shoppers, stopping off to buy that
trinket that's been bothering them all
summer long.

But not in Iron River!

You reap what you sow.

Bill Vajk