Economics of Small Town Downtown Growth.

This post is going to be about how to revitalize your small town downtown.  However we could sum the whole post up in five words...Find yourself a Vivian Howard.   

When we were younger and moving from small town to small town we noticed a trend in the restaurant business that was repeated from town to town.   In Jacksonville NC there was a steak house in New River Shopping Center where many movers and shakers gathered for supper.  In Clinton NC there was a Fussell's Steakhouse where many gathered to meet and greet.  In Lumberton there was a place called John's Restaurant where the upper crust gathered to talk and discuss the local scene.  In Fayetteville the place was Chris Steak House right outside the gates of the local country club.  I could go on, but I think you get the picture here, in that some place generally a restaurant was the gathering place for locals and frankly many non locals to come and mingle.  What many did not notice, but our being a marketing type person did, was that the retailers close by these establishments prospered as well.  Those consumers drawn would shop close by while in town and especially near the gathering place.  Now this is not marketing genius this is just the fact that people who know each other many times like to dine together and visit and a smart restaurant manager takes advantage of such by making their place the go to spot and making inside comfortable and appealing for those who wanted to socially visit. 

So human nature does not change, it does adapt to the times and to the offerings to come and be together.  Kinston NC got lucky or some might think smart in Vivian Howard coming home and starting a restaurant in their downtown.  A downtown that in the 1960's was known as the Magic Mile and just a few years ago well not so magic anymore.  Nothing different in that most small town downtowns have lost their relevance and draw due to many retailers moving to more modern buildings, better parking for customers, and of course nearer my Walmart to thee.  Walmart brings traffic and smart retailers and yes restaurants have learned how to feed off that traffic.  In Kinston's downtown we find The Chef and Farmer,  Vivian Howard's restaurant has drawn traffic and like a Walmart has led a exodus back into that downtown to take advantage of the new traffic flow.  For instance, Mother Earth Brewery,  a hotel inside an old bank,  a pub, a pizzeria, and this one is sweet a remodeled motel/motor court called Mother Earth Motor Lodge. Go check the motel out online it is one cool joint.   Those already in downtown have prospered as well including several clothing merchants.  

Simply put if you have a small town with a downtown go find yourself a Vivian Howard or at least the closest thing to such you can get.  Now Ms. Howard not only has shown smarts in developing her restaurant and using her talents to prosper she used numerous long known contacts to leverage her opportunities.  The best contact by far is her long friendship with Cynthia Hill a talented film maker from southern Lenior County where Vivian Howard also grew up.  Together their TV show A Chef's Life has been a money maker for everyone concerned, not to mention those who have saddled up close to the restaurant in Kinston.   Now we find several aspects here that make for finding your own Vivian Howard.  One is well someone who thinks opportunity and not necessarily motivated by profits but the joy of success,  next is someone who has emotional ties to the community, and last someone with contacts that they can leverage.   Your local entrepreneur, or entrepreneurs, will likely not be as successful as Ms. Howard since frankly as they say she was in the right place at the right time.  But they do not have to be such, only be a draw to your downtown or maybe even a series of draws to downtown.  Several locally owned non chain independently owned restaurants,  a local brewery or two, a sweet shop that cooks donuts,  candy,  or pastries, and a town government that finds ways to help these businesses prosper like some close by parking lots and helps with incentives.  Now tax incentives are nice, but what we are looking at here is serious help something like government buying a vacant building, finding someone to set up shop in it, and offering to make the deal so they can survive long enough to prosper.  Consider inviting a brewery to your downtown as an example.

The best part of this happening in your town is that is draws in the wealthier consumer who not only spend at the upscale dining establishment, but has money to spend with the merchants nearby.  Wealth does wonders for small communities and despite all the banter about hating the so called rich we have found ourselves that living in wealth stimulated communities raises the quality of living for everyone around.  Wealth buys nicer homes, wealth spends freely, and wealth brings in nicer merchants.   Also understand wealth is attracted to pro growth policies, government that pushes for a higher quality of living,  government that makes changes to accommodate better housing and not just housing for property tax collection, government that uses some revenues to enhance the opportunities for local merchants to come in and thrive.  A local government that thinks opportunity and not government with their revenues. 

There are several towns in Eastern NC besides Kinston where we see this downtown improvement happening.   Swansboro NC once frankly a dump of a downtown has every shop full, historical buildings here have been redone, and there are maybe a half dozen restaurants and a brewery all within and two block walking distance.   Elizabethtown NC has a markee restaurant called Melvins and most of the local stores are doing well even with a newer Walmart shopping center in town, Wilson NC seems to have gotten the clue and of late I see their downtown returning to some former glory,  Jacksonville NC has a new eatery called Biagios and I am expecting to see some development there soon,  Clayton NC is using their new status as a high earning young people draw to revitalize their downtown.   So yes it can be done but there needs to be someone who takes the reins and leverages the place past just another downtown.  So as this posting started if you want your downtown to grow go find yourself a Vivian Howard and get going. 

Boo Birds Wrong Again.

We follow several stock market bears, if for no other reason than to see their thinking, pick off some investing ideas, but more importantly to keep our long term bullishness grounded.  

Being a stock market bull is easy and hard these days of regular Dow records.  We have opined we think the market might be a bit ahead of itself, but that is what markets do look ahead and looking ahead and seeing a business friendly administration in Washington, continued cutting of regulation, and even the most moderate of tax cuts which will keep more money in the hands of those who know how to efficiently use it. Government can tax and spend and run up debts, but ANY money not taxed is kept in investors and consumers hands and results in more jobs, more capital to increase overall wealth, and less control by government.  Trump understands this concept. 

Those of us highly invested in stocks have enjoyed the rise up since Trump became president.   4000 points has been nice for those who own stocks and especially for those who invested in the S&P 500 Index as we have long suggested.   So at this point you got two camps, one thinking the market goes up and up and those who think we are headed for a big fall.  We have no idea where the market is headed, but what we do know is the stock market is symbolic of American economic growth and betting against America long term is a suckers bet.  Even if we finally get that long expected correction of say 10% or 2300 points anyone fully invested would still be way ahead of those who sat on the sidelines scared of a market fall.  The Boo Birds as we call them have been wrong now for some years, but trust me any hint of a stock market going down and they will be out again saying we told you so.  Then when the market goes back up again as it surely will, they will go back into hiding.  One has to wonder if they take their own foolish advice and put their money in the mattress or something. 

So keep invested and do not worry about the dips, especially if you are young, as young people should consider a sell off as a blessing to buy more shares at cheaper prices for the long haul.  We personally in our trading portfolio look constantly for stocks that have taken out and beat down good as they are prime candidates for recovery.  Consider this moment in time another opportunity to get and stay invested for the future, YOUR future.  The biggest mistake we ever made was to listen to the Boo Birds and stay out of stocks for many years.  We imagine how much more we would have if we had invested and stayed invested for another maybe ten years.  Compounding of your growth is the greatest part of investing.  The younger you get started the better, time is more valuable than the amount you invest.  Also do not forget to invest in yourself.  Your skills in the new economic market are the key to personal satisfaction and the your prime source of investing capital. 

I have opined before up until about 1880 the most valuable asset one could own was land, from 1880 until about 1985 the most valuable asset one could own was a factory or some building out of which one could sell something. Since 1985 and increasingly so the most valuable asset one can own is a skill set or intelligence to create something than improved upon an existing approach. So it is with Amazon looking a second so called headquarters or you looking to improve your standard of life in the future. Those thinking ownership of real estate and/or ownership of production of low value added goods are the path to wealth in the future are fools. Go learn a skill like plumbing or technology, a practice like management or health care if you want to be one of the high achievers in this century. Otherwise accept lower pay and a lower standard of living. The beauty here is only a few could own land in the 1800's and only a few could own a factory in the 1900's, today anyone can own a skilled or practiced mind and unlike land or buildings one can sell the use of your mind to the highest bidder and can use the leverage that if not compensated correctly can move those skills to another bidder at the time or your choosing.

A Closed End Fund yielding 21%

We have been reluctant to post about this closed end fund ETF, but as more and more investors find out about it maybe it is time to bring it forward and give our opinion.  AMZA, Intracap MLP ETF,  is a almost 3 year old closed end fund that yields about 21%. Yes you read that right and no it is not crazy, but more an aggressive approach to investing and trading. 

AMZA was founded back in 2014 and for a couple of years now has settled into a 52 cent per quarter distribution.  The fund has traded down to around $9.75 per share recently and seems to have bottomed out from a price that was once over $20.  Much of that decrease in stock price has been the huge downdraft in the underlying stocks held in this fund, namely Master Limited Partnerships know as MLP's.  These oil and gas partnerships that mostly specialize in transporting energy via pipelines has taken a huge hit in the last three years due to the sell off in oil and gas prices.  So it not unreasonable that the fund has dropped to what is now about net asset value or the trading value of the stocks held in the fund.  We believe the sell off is unwarranted since so much of the pipeline industry is not subject to oil and gas prices only fee based transportation charges  Thus we believe there is opportunity for capital appreciation of the stock price. 

The fund run by one of the smartest MLP guys in the business, Jay Hatfield,  who has taken advantage of the sell off in MLP stocks and their corresponding percentage increase in distributions which goes up when the stock price goes down.  So the fund makes good dividend/distribution income and using the closed end fund status to borrow money at low rates to buy about 30% more MLP stocks at high distribution rates to make even more income.  Now add in the fact that MLP's are trading at rock bottom prices so the administrator of the fund is also selling options on the stocks held in the fund to juice the pay outs.  To most people that sounds scary, but to seasoned traders it is plain smart since the chance of MLP"s to drop further in price is almost negligible. That makes for easy option income.  Thus the 21% dividend. 

Now note we posted distributions and not dividends with the MLP"s in that MLP"s have those dreaded K-1 tax forms.  Go ahead and look that up if you wish but part of the beauty of this closed end fund is that they convert the distributions to a simple 1099 tax form for your tax preparation pleasure.  The fund also runs dirt cheap for a closed end fund doing so much trading, borrowing, and investing at 1.30% which is about half most other funds like this one.  Well frankly there is NO fund like this one, so it is really cheap.  Now be aware some of the dividend will come in the form of capital return which is tax free.  Not principal return, but capital return which just lowers your cost basis in the shares when you sell them. 

We have recently bought into this fund with a small position and gained the first payout in July.  We will add to that position at some point prior to the October payout since the price has declined a bit more since we first bought.  Now this is not for investors who can stand to take a loss, nor is it good for those who might not sleep at night with their money invested.  It is for those who want to risk some money and roll the dice a bit.   When we buy in next we will still be below 1% of our assets, so be careful here, but consider the opportunity.  

Let's also state here one more time single stock investing is not for people who have not fully participated in their company 401-k plans to the fullest possible extent which is about $18000 for most people and fully invested in a Roth IRA which is about $5500 for most people.  One should invest with max pre-tax or Roth post tax dollars in these excellent retirement investing vehicles prior to putting money at risk in single stock selections.  Put your retirement money in index stock funds and keep adding each payday.  If you have money outside such options then single stock selections can be considered. 

 

 

The Smthfield Herald. Sad goodbye to a honored newspaper

1882.   If you have a history of any kind with this newspaper you know what those numbers mean.   Like BR549, we will never forget.  

We believe in community journalism, covering the local town board, the local school board, the county commissioners, government in general, and what is going on in a community.  We also believe it is necessary to editorialize on the good and bad in the community with strong opinion pieces and have a robust letters to the editor section, and yes news of shopping opportunities via local advertising.  All are in good newspapers. 

Smithfield has some of this community journalism, but sadly as of last month little of it is in the Smithfield Herald. No more editorials anywhere can be found. A story in the June 2 News and Observer signaled the end was near.  Even more sad sometime in 2002 we and others then employed in the newspaper noted our concerns to management at both the local level and the Raleigh home office about the path the newspaper was on, the threats to our assets, and if something did not change where we were headed.  We were the advertising manager at the newspaper at the time and were willing to voice our concerns quite strongly about the future.  Last month the final act in that voiced scenario came true and we are sad about it and concerned about how government will be held accountable now in Johnston county. 

Back to that 1882.  That was the year the Smithfield Herald came into being and was also the original phone number of the newspaper.  All who worked there knew that number did not come up on the external phone rotation unless someone actually dialed that number and therefore it alerted those inside the building even when the building was closed to answer the phone. The insider's line so to speak.   1882-2017, 135 years of good, sometimes great,  journalism is in the hospice house. The staffing slowly reduced over the last decade to basically a reporter and the editor.  The last long time employee who kept up the proud tradition of excellent editorials and as much local news gathering as they could with severely limited staff is gone.  My understanding there is token representation in the second story of the once two floor office they occupied when they moved to Market Street back some years ago. 

Yes the move, came something in the late first decade of this century from an office the newspaper had occupied from the early 1960's.  The newspaper moved into that office from another downtown location and brought with it serious journalism and a love for community that took root and grew even stronger at South Fourth Street for over 40 years.  Those of us who walked those halls and were proud to say we were from The Smithfield Herald at some business calling on customers or some news gathering location must have numbered in the several hundreds.  We personally walked the building the day prior to turnover to the new owner and literally grieved for the place as we walked and looked at the hundreds of news and advertising awards that were going to the trash.  Add to that the large number of artifacts and such that were going to the trash and we expect we were carrying the sorry of all those other former employees too.  It was obvious to us the attitude the management in Raleigh took to the newspaper about the historical artifacts and institutional memory of the place was we do not care. 

It did not have to be this way.  Indeed when the News and Observer publishing company bought the newspaper in the mid 1980's they kept the same great expectations of high quality newspaper being produced with some additional capital resources from the new parent. We were blessed to join the newspaper in the early 1990's and watched as profits grew at maybe the only newspaper of our size which put out such huge quantities of local news twice a week.  See we had no AP news source, but were publishing about 100 pages weekly, which was quite a product for a 15000 circulation twice a week product.  There were at times 30 or more preprinted advertising inserts in the two editions too.  It was not unusual for the editor to complain about having to fill so much space with local news, but every week every edition his staff got the job done and done well.  The entire staff from news, to advertising, to composing, to pressroom, to circulation got the job done and most times it was stellar work too.   In the early 2000's the newspaper had grown so much the building needed and did add a large new building for an enlarged press and more storage of inserts and newsprint. 

But as the newspaper grew so did competition from the new Internet and other news gathering sources in the county.  We personally thought the newspaper and staff were more than up to the challenge and figured the challenge was an opportunity to improve our product, add to our county footprint, and take the competition head on.  To our dismay others at the McClatchy end thought differently and thought the newspaper was more suited for a local delivery vehicle of the News and Observer.  Those in charge wanted another direction and frankly another advertising leader who would comply and be more cooperative in their efforts.  We found ourselves pushed out and the newspaper headed in another direction.  There was a sadness leaving the newspaper since our heart was there as was our belief in the future of Johnston County, Smithfield, and the newspapers part in that future.

Over the next decade the owners did indeed go in a different direction, going with free circulation, cutting staff, and of course selling the building.  The Smithfield Herald got not only caught up in the new direction of the product, but also in the aggressive cost cutting going on at the new owner The News and Observer parent company McClatchy Company.  McClatchy had bought the newspaper in 1996 and in the early 2000's made some unwise moves in buying out another chain at high premium prices right before newspapers took a direct hit from online media.  Today the newspaper is basically 6 pages with a few ads, some canned copy, some reprints from the News and Observer,  and a part of the overall distribution network of preprinted insert delivery for the Triangle region.  Few expense cuts are left and now little local news and no editorials being done in one of the largest population counties in the state. 

We personally believe the newspaper under different ownership and direction would still be doing well, still producing quality news, and yes still be profitable. Our belief in the need for local news is still there and even today many community newspapers in the state are surviving and doing well. We find it concerning that in a county of almost 200000 people there is no longer a newspaper of record published in the county seat.  Soon the 1882 number will likely die and someone else will be assigned the number,  likely some mobile phone.  Wonder if they will have any idea what they have and the history of 1882?  I doubt it and with this post we say final goodbye.   Can one have a funeral for a newspaper? The employees at The Smithfield Herald were family and there seems to be a need for a funeral when a honored member passes on. 

Primecap Odessey Fund

We have opined often on this blog that few people should be buying individual stocks since unless one has not maxed out their 401-k at work and maxed out their Roth IRA outside of work, not to mention getting the 401-k match if offered there is no reason to individual stock picking risk.  There is also the additional $5000 401k and $1000 IRA for those over 50 years old get to add on via the catch up rules. These options have tax deferral and tax free opportunities that should never be passed up. So for most people $23000 plus of your saving investment should be taken up by those dollars. Once someone has left work, or when someone changes jobs they should be moving their 401-k funds to an individual IRA.  

Now the options as to where to place those retirement investment dollars are quite simple in our opinion.  Vanguard Funds is adding $1 billion dollars per day currently and the reason is simple they run dirt cheap funds.  Vanguard is truly investor owned and tight expense managed unlike funds that are owned by shareholders or majority owners like ALL other funds.  So the first place to place funds in Vanguard is in the 500 index fund.  The symbol VFIAX for the Vanguard 500 Admiral Fund, there is also an ETF for this fund,  should see at least 75% or so of your assets.  The other 25% or so should be in Vanguard Primecap fund or Vanguard Capital Opportunity Funds. Both those later funds are stock growth funds and in this new Trump pro-growth economy makes for excellent choices for riding a growth economy.  Unfortunately neither fund is currently open to current Vanguard customers who do not already own the funds or the general public.  The funds will at some point open back up and the first ones allowed to add money will be Vanguard customers which is another excellent reason to own the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. 

Primecap advisors have proven over time to be the best in the business for stock selection in growth segments and they prefer dealing with only a certain amount of assets, hence the closing for new money.   As a current Primecap investor we like that and once you get aboard you should appreciate that as well.  The good news is there is another opportunity to take advantage of Primecap advisors and that is through the Primecap Odessy Fund  Symbol POGRX also has a below average 65 basis point expense ratio which we like as well.  So we suggest as we move into a pro-growth economy some of your assets should be in a growth environment and this fund fits the bill. 

This ain't your Daddy's Clinton NC anymore.

We have a four decade experience in watching the business market in the small town of Clinton North Carolina. Clinton was the first place we settled in after truly leaving home and our home county. We found the people there friendly, willing to us take in as one of their own as someone who was not born there, and lastly it was a vibrant market for business in a predominately rural county.  We consider Clinton our adopted home town. 

Over the next few decades we spend a lot of time in Clinton and Sampson County building up lifelong relationships and business ties that we enjoy even today.  In the 1970's and 1980's Clinton was a farmer come to town market with a growing small urban core.  Most business was locally owned or based in North Carolina.  We remember the predominant retailer at the time being Roses and in the late 1970's that was shook up a bit with the coming of Kmart.  Kmart was the Walmart of it's time and the movement into North Carolina the home turf of Roses was a battle royal.  Over the years of course those two retailers gave way to Walmart and other niche retailers.  Such is the way markets move and adjust to customer buying habits and competition.  Three events in the recent weeks make clear this market is becoming more like national markets as slowly the need to be big overwhelms all other concerns. 

The big grocery retailer in Clinton in the late 1970's was Piggly Wiggly owned by the Lindsay brothers who were locals who prized their links to Sampson County and Clinton.  There were other grocery stores in the area at the time lead by Big Star in Coharie Plaza, which over time left town as did some others like Winn Dixie since competing against The Pig for market share was a losing battle. Customers preferred shopping with someone they knew and would cater to their individual desires even if not as cheap sometimes.  We never remember a time when Jesse Lindsay ever made a move that was not customer centric or more importantly against his religious values.  People in the area found that comforting.  Over time Paramount Foods, the parent of the Piggly Wiggly in Clinton expanded to Roeboro, Newton Grove, and Smithfield.  There was talk of expanding into the Triangle area as well.  Of course that was then and this is now.  Now Clinton has a Walmart with a grocery. Now has a stronger Food Lion that has proved the low price and less space idea to be long lived. But all this goes back to Walmart and the fact that customers are more price concerned and the only way to compete on price is to be able to spread expenses over a larger store base and buy in volume.  So this week the Lindsay family announced they were selling their four remaining stores to Promise Foods a larger store chain. Promise Foods, operating as Carlie C;s, has been expanding their store base over the last few years taking up the IGA store Smithfield and even starting at store in a little served area of Raleigh. We are not privy to the Lindsay's decision making but we expect the much harder to compete in grocery environment of today played a part in the decision to sell.  Customers in the Clinton area as in almost small markets now are not as loyal to local owned business as they used to be as younger buyers tend to be more price conscience and less loyal in buying habits. 

We were there at the birth of Clinton Toyota when Jeff Strickland and Tommy Baker took on the dealership on then Southeast Blvd. in Clinton.  Over the next few years they took a weak franchise and dealer plate to heights no one thought possible in a small market.  Albert Thornton, who owned the Chevrolet franchise in Clinton at the time, marveled personally to me at their success of Clinton Toyota getting out of town customers to come to Clinton.  Intense marketing, narrow than usual profits, and a group of smarter than average people were able to make it happen.  The ideas thought up there were taken national by Jim Moran of Southeast Toyota the regional supplier who knew good ideas when he saw them.  In the 1970's small individual dealers could survive on selling 25 vehicles a month and thrive on up to a 100.  But getting past a hundred or so vehicles sold monthly was tough in a small market and frankly not needed since most dealers owned their local markets via being local owners who invested locally and personally knowing lots of their customers.  Auto dealers then could produce more profits with each sale and make enough money to survive.  Since the need to get bigger did not exist rarely was their a new automotive dealership with more than one name plate. Thornton Chevrolet, Vann Ford, Clinton Toyota, Roseboro Ford,  and Owen Chevrolet were such Sampson County dealers and all one franchise.  Over time the Chevrolet dealership was sold to Steve Stefanovich who united the Rose Buick franchise and Clinton Toyota franchise under one dealership.  Steve recently sold that combined dealership to Deacon Jones Auto Group of Smithfield NC that itself has over a dozen franchises covering  Goldsboro, Smithfield, and now Clinton.   Once again we see the change in the marketplace where spreading expenses over a larger dealership base that allows new vehicle dealers to compete on price.  There is also the added pressure of the national new vehicle manufacturers demanding local dealers upgrade facilities and most importantly service operations to be very customer friendly. That is a large expense item and is reflected in many dealers moving into new buildings and having larger parts inventories.  Hard, but not impossible,  for an individual dealer to compete on this scale long and survive especially when in markets like Clinton where unlike just twenty years ago customers will drive to Fayetteville, Goldsboro, and beyond to compete on price.   Again we are not privy to the decision making behind the decision to sell Go Automotive but we expect the need to grow larger and invest as required by the manufacturer or move on was part of the thinking. One final note here is the push for auto dealers to improve service operations is having a large effect on tire and automotive service dealers who are losing business to new vehicle service bays and we are just starting to see these places like Goodyear, Firestone, and such grouping up into larger store footprints as well.  

Lastly is the move of the Sampson Independent into a new building.  This is nothing more than the local newspaper responding to market conditions of the 2010's.  When we joined this newspaper in the 1970's the press, the news operation, the entire business operation was under one roof. The newspaper had then just recently been bought by a larger southern US based chain after many years of being owned by a couple of local Sampson County owners.  The new owner combined two locally owned weeklies the Sampsonian and The Sampson Independent into one newspaper and went daily. The Independent during the 1970's enlarged the old building site on Elizabeth Street buying a new press and gaining space for distributing more circulars via the home delivered product. Over the years the newspaper was bought by Park Communications and now another large nationwide chain and during those years even more of the operations were centralized in off site locations.  Now with many of those jobs and operations off site we expect the decision was made to move to a smaller building.  Again we do not know if the decision was made due to the need for less space, but we suspect that is so as is we also would not be surprised if the newspaper is renting the building they now occupy.  Renting instead of buying real estate is a way to free up capital both in newspapers and now few national retailers own the building out of which they operate.   

Now this is not to say that being small and a local owner is not a business concept that works, the deal to compete is quite simple either be large or be niche.  Niche marketing is doing something Walmart or larger retailers do not sell or do not do well.  For instance note the concept we just discussed about most businesses not owning the storefront.  In that space has emerged several real estate trust firms such as National Retail Properties and Realty Income who specialize in buying up and owning hundreds of retail properties across the country.  Larger in real estate means like it does in retail business spreading expenses across more stores and cutting costs. This national intrusion into smaller and smaller markets marches on and there is little local communities can do to stop it as it is part of our new normal.  It is as simple as Bojangles moving into smaller towns taking restaurant business away from local competitors.  Again the idea is to do a niche well and thrive.   

There are small business niches too such as locally owned pharmacies who compete successfully against Walmart and CVS providing personal customer care and advice where knowing the pharmacist personally is valuable to many buyers.   Small locally owned restaurants can still do well doing steakhouses that serve as social centers of the community.  Local small banks can provide lending to citizens when a larger bank will not take the risk on a small business.  Clothing alteration shops do business that big market retailers have avoided and generally do not want.   Used car lots provide access to transportation by providing loans to those who can not get lending elsewhere.   Local bakeries provide fresh items to local customers big retailers can not do.  Hair salons provide services to women who can be fickle in their choices.   I remain a believer in the future of the small entrepreneur and small business always doing something better than big business, but the influx of bigger is better in large markets and now small markets means this ain't your Daddy's Clinton NC anymore.