How Will Local Businesses Prevail?

We have talked quite a bit about the economy as a whole. It is bad, really bad. We all know this. The one positive is that the government is working hard to fix the problem. Not all that has been done has worked or will be the end all be all in the future, but it is progress. It is much better than sitting idle and watching everything crumble! They will eventually get it right, it is just going to take some time. While we wait for all strategies to take effect, what companies and small businesses will make it. By reading the national news we have seen numerous companies go out of business or file bankruptcy. We are talking 100 year old companies that have made enormous profits during all of the great years and they are crumbling due to 2 bad ones! Now that is amazing. It shows how much these large companies rely on debt to survive. They need it for their day to day operations and payroll among other things. As the credit markets dry up, they cannot operate! Scary! Now how will our local businesses fair? Our local economy is not nearly as bad as many others, but it is still reeling. We have seen many small businesses and restaurants close down. We have also seen other long standing businesses either merge with someone else or become a franchise. Others have chosen to layoff employees or put a hiring freeze into effect. It is really astounding to see all of the shuffling around and changes being made. This is simply going to happen though. Some of these companies rely on debt as well, but they also operate in the real world unlike these Wall Street Firms and other large conglomerates. Small businesses are much more cash based businesses. Money comes in, money goes out, and you goal is to make enough to earn a good living. If the money isn't coming in or if your expenses spike, it doesn't take long for an owner to realize a change must be made fast! If these large companies would have been smart they would have stocked away tons of reserves during the good years in order to sustain the bad ones. Instead they got greedy or just didn't make smart business decisions. Times will not always be good so you cannot run your business as if they will be. Lets hope Wall Street will take a page from the small business finance book and will do a better job moving forward.
For the most part I think Columbia will be ok, however I do see some further changes in the future. I would guess that more restaurants will shut down before all this is said and done. This iis an industry that is tough with lots of competition. Ask anyone who has had their own restaurant and they will tell you this! The core places will make it that have loyal customers. I also envision some additional layoffs in town. Nothing too crazy at this point, but Columbia has a lot of misc small companies or independent employees working in this area that could be affected. Lastly I see a handful of small companies going out of business. These will probably be companies that have a few direct competitors that have been around longer and are bigger versions of themselves. Many consumers are cutting back. With this, the same thing could happen to these small companies that happens in the restaurant world. If a family decides to cut back on eating out, but still want to go out occasionally they will probably stick with their 2 or 3 favorite places. They will not use one of the few times they splurge on a big meal to try a new place. As I said before, for the most part Columbia is doing pretty well considering all the adversity out there! I am also not writing this post to get everybody down. We all know what the economy is doing to businesses everywhere. If you have a favorite restaurant or business in the local area that you want to support, I urge you to do so. What better way to keep the money right here in Columbia. Even if we all did this, some companies still will not make it. Many times it isn't the economy either. Bad business models and other factors could have been their downfall. We can't keep all businesses afloat, but supporting our local economy will benefit us all!

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