Tag: Street

Can Your Small Store Get Noticed on a Busy High Street

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. With all the businesses out it can be tough to be noticed particularly if you have a small store. A key to your success will be getting it noticed and what helps is to situate your operations on a highly trafficked street. The following contributed post is entitled, Can Your Small Store Get Noticed on a Busy High Street.

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Small independent shops are a crucial element of our economy and culture. Small stores give consumers options away from global brands. They often offer unique items of high quality, ideal for those of us that don’t want to be exactly the same as everyone else. They are able to provide excellent customer service, something which unfortunately often gets overlooked by larger brands focused on driving sales. These small businesses build relationships with their customers and give people a reason to shop in person, instead of sitting at home and ordering their purchases online. Small stores have many advantages over large chains, and many people love shopping in them.

But, despite knowing all of this, and knowing that your community is keen to support local business, if you own a small store of your own, something that you may worry about is getting noticed. You might have considered moving into out of town locations, where competition is lower, and property is cheaper. But, doing this is a risk, there’s less passing footfall, and your store has to try harder to give customers a reason to travel. On the high street, people are already there. You just need to give them a reason to come inside. If you can get noticed.

Build a Reputation

One of the best ways to get people into your store, instead of through the doors of bigger businesses nearby is by building a great reputation. Use your interactions in store, but also your engagement online, to get to know your customers. Become known as a business that goes the extra mile for their customers, and even do some charity work to boost your reputation in the wider community. Make it so people want to come to the high street for your shop.

Stand Out from the Crowd

Just like everything else, store styles and layouts have trends and fashions. Things become popular and trendy, so every store jumps on the bandwagon. They all look the same. If you want your store to get noticed, be the one that doesn’t follow trends. Be the one that has a strong look, and rocks it. Look at awnings installation, and other colorful ideas to make a statement. Don’t be afraid to try new things and to take risks with your designs. You can always make further changes and tone things down if you need to.

Put Effort into Your Window Displays

Some shops, say Apple, don’t need to worry about what is in their windows. They might not even have window displays. Customers see their logo, and they know enough to decide whether they want to go inside or not. You don’t have this luxury. Your window displays speak for your business. Display your best products and key brand messages, but don’t overcrowd and overwhelm. Keep things simple and show off what is important.

Get Outdoors

There’s nothing to stop you pulling people in from outside. Send staff out to speak to people and give away free samples, set up a stall in your carpark or on the street, print adverts and flyers to let people know where you are. Don’t wait for people to come to you, go out and get them.

Teaching Children to be Streetwise

One of the focuses of my blog is Health/Wellness. Part of that is living a healthy lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise. Another part of this is understanding how to handle one’s self in adverse conditions. Depending upon which neighborhood they grow up in, young people need to be taught how to handle themselves on the streets. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Teaching Children to be Streetwise.

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Teaching children to be streetwise sounds pretty simple. But, with every new generation, the world changes dramatically. The music changes, the clothing, what is and isn’t cool. Even the language adapts. New forms of slang appear, and you won’t always be sure what they’re talking about unless you keep up to date with current trends. But how can you be sure that your child won’t end up needing a drugs crimes attorney in a few years time? Well, the truth is… you can’t. But what you can do is prep them for the big wide world.

The most critical step is to try and keep the lines of communication open. There is a big difference between asking a question and then really listening to the answer. You can make a point of using active listening skills and really absorbing that information. Be there to answer questions and give them the right information. If you find that you just don’t have the answer then spend time together to find it. Depending on the topic, you might like to revisit it a few times over the coming weeks. Make sure they know that if anything happens, to them or even to friends that they can come to you. Always take their concerns seriously, even if they don’t sound all that important – it was important enough for them to bring them to you.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Show them all the people and places that they can go to for help. Everyone knows that dialing 911 in an emergency is simple, but what about if they don’t have a phone? What then? Sometimes children (no matter the age) struggle with who they should and shouldn’t approach. If you aren’t around for them, who would you like them to turn to? There are some situations as parents you just don’t want to think about, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a real-world concern. Keep them updated on the news, for the local area and beyond. A realistic part of parenting is accepting that you can’t always be there in the moment. Teaching your children where they can go is a small peace of mind (for you both).

Awareness. It isn’t just about removing headphones when walking alone. This one is far-reaching. Being aware of movements in the current political climate. Awareness in their group of friends. People might say ‘woke,’ but there is more to it than that. Understanding what other groups of people go through in their daily lives is very important. Being aware of how to keep themselves as safe as possible is also a type of awareness. Keeping their belongings like mobile phone, money, and jewelry not on show or sharing a ride home with a friend – all of these things count.

Knowing more about the world and being armed with as much information as possible will allow everyone, not just children, to make good decisions when it comes to their safety and the safety of others. Street smarts aren’t just for the streets anymore.