Building Business on Main Street

I've been impressed with our town manager, town council, planning board, zoning board, and so on (disclaimer: I served on the planning board and was chair for two years). The streets get plowed, Town Hall is responsive, we have a favorable bond rating.

But we don't have a vibrant Main Street. Too many small businesses go belly-up becaue the owners act like the business is an avocation, not an occupation. You can't run a breakfast place without cereal and fruit on the menu (what do you do with kids) and tell customers it's an average 20-minute wait; you can't run a coffee shop with an employee playing video games instead of serving waiting customers; you can't have a clothing shop that smells of dampness and mold; you don't park your own car taking up three spaces of a parking lot intended for the stores.

I think the city should provide free training in finance, customer service, marketing, and technology to new businesses that open (or existing ones that need it). Use volunteers for an hour a week, people who know these fields. We need to fill Main Street and eliminate the eysores of empty storefronts.

Too many of these owners have passion for the work, but no business sense.