Small Retailers Have A Right To Be Pessimistic
Oct/15/2009 08:31 Filed in: Store Closing
Sale
As
we head into the holiday season, owners of small
retail stores are less hopeful, than other small
business owners according to a new study of small
businesses released by American Express OPEN.
Retail owner respondents were the least optimistic about the current business environment among all small-business owner respondents, according to the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor.
Given their bleaker outlook, small-retail-business owners said they are taking severe measures to deal with the current downturn, such as:
* 50 percent instituted a hiring freeze.
* 40 percent asked family members to work for no pay.
* 37 percent mandated a salary freeze.
* 36 percent stopped taking salaries altogether.
* 34 percent tapped into their personal assets.
* 33 percent reduced employee hours.
* 21 percent took a second job.
Hopefully these stop-gap measures will help these small-retail-business owners make it through the recession, but they must be realistic and analyze their situation. It will be a long time before retail ever gets back to the levels of the early 2000’s. For many the current recession only accelerated their problems.
Retail is changing. The way people shop is changing. And the day of a trip to the mall to shop being a form of entertainment is over. On-line shopping continues to grow and as it continues to be more inter-active and part of the social media craze, it will make the brick and mortar store owners job even tougher.
For many small-retail-business owners the above actions are only draining their savings and retirement funds. The longer they wait, the less they will have when they finally close their doors. Yes, I said “close their doors”. The small retail business is next to impossible to sell and their best option is to conduct a Going Out of Business or Store Closing Sale.
Retail owner respondents were the least optimistic about the current business environment among all small-business owner respondents, according to the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor.
Given their bleaker outlook, small-retail-business owners said they are taking severe measures to deal with the current downturn, such as:
* 50 percent instituted a hiring freeze.
* 40 percent asked family members to work for no pay.
* 37 percent mandated a salary freeze.
* 36 percent stopped taking salaries altogether.
* 34 percent tapped into their personal assets.
* 33 percent reduced employee hours.
* 21 percent took a second job.
Hopefully these stop-gap measures will help these small-retail-business owners make it through the recession, but they must be realistic and analyze their situation. It will be a long time before retail ever gets back to the levels of the early 2000’s. For many the current recession only accelerated their problems.
Retail is changing. The way people shop is changing. And the day of a trip to the mall to shop being a form of entertainment is over. On-line shopping continues to grow and as it continues to be more inter-active and part of the social media craze, it will make the brick and mortar store owners job even tougher.
For many small-retail-business owners the above actions are only draining their savings and retirement funds. The longer they wait, the less they will have when they finally close their doors. Yes, I said “close their doors”. The small retail business is next to impossible to sell and their best option is to conduct a Going Out of Business or Store Closing Sale.