Loyal Customers’ Support Helps Smooth ‘Rough Roads’

I’ve been a small-business owner for 12 years. One business is on Grand Boulevard on Spokane’s South Side and another is on Francis Avenue on the North Side. Both Grand and Francis were under construction a good part of the summer.

This meant that during summer - the peak season for many businesses, including mine - vehicle and foot traffic declined dramatically while the roads were being repaved. Many of our loyal customers couldn’t get to us easily, and any new customers probably went elsewhere. It was a stressful time, but some positive things came of it.

The business owners, the city and the contractor met once a week during the six weeks that Grand was being repaired. We expressed our concerns and the city and the contractor listened and kept us informed of the project’s timetable. It was important that we communicated on a regular basis, and it was a welcome surprise when the project ended five days ahead of schedule.

Road repair will be a fact of life in the Inland Northwest, so I want to pass on some thoughts that might be helpful to small-business owners and their customers who find road repair disrupting business as usual.

Merchants affected by the road repairs should join together and offer incentives to customers. Maybe even coordinate promotions and advertising efforts. The landlords who own the merchants’ buildings might also kick in some promotion money or even a temporary adjustment in the rent.

Customers should never take for granted that their favorite business will be able to weather a six-week drop in business. I’ve heard of businesses forced to close because road construction fatally hurt their bottom line. Small businesses connected to national franchises are not immune. They do get promotion and product support from the main corporation, but not financial support.

Things are somewhat back to normal now on Grand Boulevard. The new road looks terrific. The small businesses along Grand - about half have been here 10 years or more - all survived. Many merchants already have expressed their gratitude to the city and the contractors and all who helped us through the “rough road.”

Most of all, we merchants are grateful to the loyal customers and neighbors who navigated the detours to support us.

MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.