Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 25, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 7 We prefer local companies When businesses pick vendors and suppliers, there are advantages to working with those based in the local market, including transportation savings, advanced understanding of the market, and boosting the local community. However, there are potential drawbacks as well, including they may not be the most affordable or highest- quality option. When polled online, the plurality of WBJ readers said they prefer to work with local companies, but that is not the only factor when choosing business partners. Amazon's presence has only grown. e firm brought in $10.6 billion in profits during the last three months of 2023, in a record-breaking holiday shopping season for the company, according to a February article from the Associated Press. Amazon has taken additional steps to ensure it's in prime position to prof- it from this year's holiday shopping season in Central Massachusetts; a new warehouse and distribution center at the former site of the Greendale Mall in Worcester opened in October, joining sites in Charlton and Westborough as other Amazon facilities opened in the region since 2023. Amazon's rapid expansion has had a significant impact on small retailers, according to a 2022 joint study from the American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics, a Chicago-based economic analysis firm. e study argued the company was responsible for ongoing displacement of retail activity from traditional central- ized spaces to outlying industrial parks — creating a crisis for municipalities — and found Amazon displaced 136,000 shops occupying 1.1 billion square feet of traditional commercial space with its 2021 retail sales. Product knowledge and education While it's fair for local businesses to fear e-commerce giants like Amazon, C.C. Lowell has good reason to believe it has staying power: e company has been operating in Worcester for 172 years, claiming to be the oldest art sup- ply store in the nation. Employee knowledge of the products is a major reason for its longevity, said Sciascia. "Everyone that works here uses the product, understands the product, and probably 80% of the customers really do need an education on something, how to use a certain paint, what brushes to use, what can make them the most successful with what they're doing," she said. Artists are only as good as their tools, and C.C. Lowell's customers appreciate the ability to get up close and personal with the brushes, pencils, and other artistic items, said Sciascia. "It's more about the experience," she said. "ey do tend to come into it so they can feel and touch, but we also have some products people have never used before." e store creates its own unique hol- iday products by assembling kits where customers can purchase a number of related items at a discount. Growing a concrete base Like C.C. Lowell, fellow Worcester retailer Green Zone Grow Shops uses product know-how and in-store classes to draw in customers. Once working in the dental space, Green Zone Owner Joesph Casey took over the shop five years ago aer seeing it listed for sale on Craigslist by previous ownership. "It's a mom-and-pop store, just myself, my wife, and one [additional] employee," Casey said. While Green Zone mostly focuses on customers who are growing cannabis at home, a practice that has been fully legal in Massachusetts since 2016, its products have wider gardening uses. Combined with their abilities to provide information on specific issues a grower might be having, Casey said the store's price-match guarantees for products found on Amazon or other big e-com- merce platforms is helpful in fighting back against larger retailers. "Our prices are as low as the inter- net, and then you're going to get the expertise," he said. "at personal touch means you're going to have a successful harvest." About a half-mile north of Green Zone sits Concrete Collection, a vintage and secondhand clothing store based in @ the common, previously known as the Midtown Mall. Shop co-Owner William Daughtry isn't concerned by shoppers rushing to big retailers for Black Friday sales, as he's worked hard to establish a customer base for the store through grassroot efforts. Daughtry is preparing for the holiday rush by handing out 5,000 flyers to col- lege students, hoping they appreciate the unique offerings he sells. "I have a nice little community here that supports this, so I'm going to focus my efforts on that, instead of being so mainstream driven," he said. "I'd rather have something that's old and has his- tory and nostalgia to it, so I can wear it and say I'm so happy no one in a 36-mile radius can get this. at's such an inde- pendent way of being fashionable." e former Midtown Mall's attempt to once again become an attraction for foot traffic and window shoppers is still a work in progress, but Daughtry is doing what he can to unite business owners in the building to help everyone grow, offering discounts for customers who show receipts to neighboring businesses like Odd by Worcester Brewing and Woo Juice. "If you come on Small Business Satur- day, here in this building, you can do a little bounce-around effort," he said. Collecting customers Gallery at 759 Main is a Fitch- burg-based memorabilia shop started in 2022 by Rob Babineau, a lifelong Fitchburg resident and now-retired physician, and fellow business partner Roy Crawford. e store features hundreds of items, offering everything from signed jerseys, to Seinfeld-related memorabilia, to a rare Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet signed by both Tom Brady and Donald Trump. e store features political-re- lated memorabilia from both parties, valuing commerce over politics. Aer a stint in Princeton failed to draw traffic, the store moved to downtown Fitchburg in 2023, trying to contribute to local revitalization efforts seeking to bring more life back to the city center and foregoing a location in an area with more high-earners. "A lot of people who come in say 'Wow,'" said John Sepulvada, an associ- ate who helps with IT work at the store and is a friend of Babineau and Craw- ford, said. "You really have to take your time and walk around to see everything we have." e gallery relies on relationships with nearby businesses to grow its reputation, allowing Game On, a local indoor sports center, to decorate its bar's walls with memorabilia from the store, providing the venue with free decorations and the shop with another location to show off its collection. One might not expect a business started by two people of retirement age to be up-to-date on the latest technol- ogy, but that's where Sepulvada lends a hand, leading efforts to categorize the shop's impressive collection on its web- site. is helps the shop compete with eBay and bigger collectable companies. Sepulvada keeps a close eye on social media for trends. For example, he cre- ates posts or flash sales about an item they have that's related to a celebrity who is in the news or an athlete who just had an attention-grabbing perfor- mance. "We're finding through some of our analytics that some of our more popu- lar pieces are [related to] Taylor Swi," Sepulvada said. "So we're going to do an ad that's targeted toward mothers of Taylor Swi fans." If a particular item a customer is looking for isn't in stock, Babineau can use his extensive network in the memorabilia space to try to track it down, said Sepulvada, who's hopeful all these efforts will lead to a big holiday rush aer last year's season was bogged down by the move from Princeton. "We're hoping this year is much better," he said. Not important at all, as we don't consider location when selecting businesses. 6% 7% Being local is a main factor, and we tend to lean toward selecting businesses in the region. 38% Being local is a contributing factor, but it is not all we consider. 49% Very important, we only work with local companies. How important is it to you that the companies you do business with are located in Central Massachusetts? Longtime Fitchburg physician Robert Babineau and collector Roy Crawford moved Gallery at 759 Main to Fitchburg in 2023. W

• Cover