I went back "home" for Easter to the town where I grew up, Portsmouth, OH. It seems much more vibrant, new restaurants are coming in, a movie theater was built, stores are expanding, and, my favorite store, Steve and Barry's added a location in the Portsmouth area. The population of Portsmouth has not grown in any significant way. The town has little industry to speak of, having once been a large railroad hub and steel center on the Ohio River. So what is propelling the changes in the area? Small business people. The same guys/gals that owned small stores and "mom and pop" restaurants while I lived there are now able to re-invest in the community. One group of brothers have continued to expand their small restaurant business to include franchises with Wendy's, BW-3s, and others. Together with other investors a once vacant area near a railroad track now features several restaurants, a business center and a movie theater. Other small business owners purchased property vacated by a Wal-Mart relocation and recruited new stores to fill the space (like Steve and Barry's). When I was growing up, we always traveled to do school shopping. With the addition of several clothing stores, locals are now able to shop locally, saving their gas money and time.
Keep this in mind the next time that you are shopping at Wal-Mart or heading to Hagerstown. Have you looked at the local small business stores for what you need? In Keyser, it is probably not possible to find everything that you need in local stores, but you can certainly buy some of the items that you need from local small business people. You may pay a little more, but small, local business owners take their profits and re-invest in offering more items and better locations. Just like you and me, they want to provide their children and grand-children with more opportunities and a better life than they had. That will lead, as it has in Portsmouth, to more variety more jobs and even more investment in the community.
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