In September of 2022, Best Buy announced they were closing their store in Meridian at the end of October. I’m not sure of all the reasons but I’m sure the bean counters knew best and the decision to leave Meridian was made. Soon after the announcement, lots of people started posting on Facebook about the terrible situation Meridian would be in once they closed.
The more I read, the more I got frustrated…
Quality PC mascot: Kandu The Guru
You see, my wife and I own a computer sales and service company named Quality PC of Meridian which was started in 1996. Quality PC was part of Meridian long before Best Buy decided to open a store here and hopefully, it will be here long after they are gone. My frustration came from the fact the posters on Facebook seemed to think Best Buy was the only computer place in town which I knew simply wasn’t true. I can name several local computer sales and/or repair companies which have competed with Best Buy all along.
I finally couldn’t read any more so I posted my own comment and pointed out there were local companies ready and willing to earn people’s loyalty. Then, I was confronted by someone who asked me pointedly to name those local TV repair places, appliance centers and computer companies.
I’ll admit my jaw dropped and for several minutes I stared at the post not really knowing how to respond. Gathering myself, I responded by stating Quality PC was owned locally and my wife & I had been running the company in Meridian since 1996. To their credit, the original poster acknowledged they didn’t know about our company and promised to refer other people who needed computer help in the future to us.
But, the original comment continued to bother me for a lot of reasons.
First, I realized I needed to do more advertising because the big box stores are just that, BIG. That makes them easy to see and they have signage all over the building. I don’t have a large building and I don’t have a sign nearly as big as theirs. Don’t get me wrong, my company hasn’t been operating in secret all this time. We put ads in lots of places including local theater programs, the symphony programs, radio promotions and we sponsor a t-ball team every year. But even with all that, I realized a lot of people in Meridian do not even know my company exists here in their hometown of Meridian, MS.
Second, we have always depended upon the Yellow Pages to help people find us when they need us. Back in the day, if you had a problem, you picked up the phone book and look up the category to find businesses who can help you with your problem. Unfortunately, people do not use the Yellow Pages like they used to do. Today, people would rather look on the internet, or ask for recommendations on Facebook but what if they don’t know your business name, can’t find your website or worse, you don’t have one!. One of the biggest drawbacks to asking for help on Facebook is the short shelf life of comments and perhaps the people who can make the best recommendation for your particular need will never see your original post. Having used Yelp and TripAdvisor in the past to help with travel planning, one of the things I have found most useful about these sites are the comments/reviews from regular people. I think this was a huge step forward from the Yellow Pages where you could find a phone number or location, but you never knew who you were calling or whether they are the kinds of business with whom you wanted to shop. Clearly, the Yellow Pages is not going to continue to be the great source of business they had been in the past.
Third, I have always been a vocal promoter of supporting local businesses and it seemed to me everyone was mourning the loss of a big box store, but no one (even people I thought should have been doing so) was standing up for those small local businesses which remained in our community. During the pandemic, my wife and I continued to go out to eat whenever and wherever possible to help support local restaurants. When I need plumbing parts, I will choose a local supplier over Lowe’s any day. More often than not, when I choose a local vendor, I’m dealing with a friend who owns the business and in return I know they will call me if they need computer help.
But I’m not naive. There are times when we all choose to purchase items from a big box store from time to time. I bought things from Best Buy if I needed them immediately and they had the item in stock. My wife and I shop at Sam’s Club to save money on supplies for our office. I found myself trying to figure out how to balance the competing thoughts of supporting local business with the realities of shopping retail today.
So, I began to think about what I might could do to help this situation. In 2021, I started a project to create an online directory for businesses in Meridian, MS, but ultimately the timing wasn’t right and the project fizzled. But armed with this new energy to promote shopping local whenever possible, I thought perhaps I could kick-start the directory project but make it bigger somehow and perhaps more effective than just a simple directory. What could I do to affect the mindset of potential buyers out there? How could I promote my own business and at the same time promote other small local businesses? And, how could I do all of those things without shaming anyone or myself for making different choices when the situation called for it?
The answer finally came in the form of a mission statement. Ultimately, what I wanted was for people to just “Try Local First.” It is a mindset, not a requirement. If there is a local vendor who can satisfy your need, purchase from them if you can. If they cannot satisfy your needs, then get what you need from wherever you can get it.
It seems obvious, but common sense is often like that. It smacks you in the head and says, “Wake up!”
So, with a mission statement and premise in hand, the next step was figuring out the details. Most importantly, how do you get local businesses to sign up and post their information? The answer is: Make It Free. For every business. If we build a directory for local businesses to promote their business and make it easy to use and we need to make it free use by vendors and customers then both buyers and sellers will come to this online marketplace to take advantage of the opportunities they have been missing out on until now.
Finally, with the premise and the price set right, how do we make this bigger? How about we include all of East Mississippi. From Philadelphia to Whynot, Dekalb to Waynesboro and from Cuba to Forest and all the communities in between? That way we can support even the smallest hairdresser in House, MS and the biggest company from Meridian, MS.
Ultimately the answer to the questions “Why This, Why Now?” is “Why Not?”
We cannot know what is possible until we try. All I ask is that you help me try.
