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Originally Posted by F. Lionel
He just can't wrap his head around the fact that the local company who has been around for 30 years, owned by a local family, is often times more COMPETITION for us than the other national retailer down the road.
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Thunder Bay is a small, isolated town. We don't take too well for foreigners around these parts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by F. Lionel
Everyone wants the big national brand to open shop here... but mostly they don't shop there. Ever. Not unless there is some sort of massive discount available, of course.
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With the desire for national brands, it's definitely the discounts that they're looking for. And I think people here generally aren't going to be thrilled with a 5% drop compared to the local company they have a relationship with; they're looking for 25% to 50% cheaper, minimum. If the local company costs 5% or 10% more than the big box store, they're going to stick with the local company because they know them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by swimmer_spe
Generally speaking, if you are a repeat customer at a small place, they discount things for you.
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And this is something that big businesses never do. A small local business won't mind selling something near or even at cost to a friendly local business because they know at some point, they'll get something similar in return. Everyone has each other's back and they're always networking and sharing their experiences. Another thing is that a lot of people who own businesses up here are aware of the phenomenon of suppliers from "the south" sending us their shit. The good local business owners here are filtering out "the shit" and ensuring that when you buy something from them, you don't have to go back in a year to buy another one because it broke. They know selling crap is going to make them look bad and hurt their chances of success. At my work we're keeping water coolers running for 20+ years. Walmart sells them for half the price but once they break, Walmart's customer becomes our customer, because Walmart's response to the poor quality is just "Welcome to Walmart!" People here don't want to buy a chain saw and be out in the bush and it breaks because they were sold a piece of crap by a big box store. You go to one of the local companies and spend $100 extra for something that's going to last a decade longer, and if it does break, you can bring it to them and they'll fix it. That aspect of business is crucial in Thunder Bay. If you don't offer that, your only customers will be the ones that go to you because they're too poor or too financially illiterate to understand the benefits of paying a little more for a better product.