Small Businesses Hurt Most By Economic Crisis

The problem is the economy. People simply are not shopping, and this has hurt all businesses, closing one after another. Schwartz Bookshops simply cannot afford to stay alive. This is just one of numerous such closings of small local shops in Milwaukee and nearly every American city.

Big businesses are not doing well either, but they are better off than small local shops. In the case of Schwartz Bookshops, big chains like Barnes&Noble and Borders are a major part of the reason that they cannot remain in business. This is really a shame. I admit I'm a fan of Barnes&Noble, but if our personal economic woes force us to choose between a big corporation and a small local business we really ought to choose the later.

Big corporations have a tendency to simply take profit and make their CEOs richer. Small, local businesses - particularly ones that have been in business in a community as long as Schwartz's has - give back to and enrich the community. Schwartz in particular has been known for its charity and its giving back, as of course many such business are.

I hope we can stand up and save some of our small local businesses. It is to a large degree our fear to spend that is hurting these businesses. And if we choose to patronize big corporations over small local companies, we will be left with only big corporations . . . that is a very scary prospect.