What Makes Small Businesses Thrive In a Small Community

I live in a very small community, categorized under urban poor with less than 200 houses.  Many of the men are blue collar job workers with no permanent employment and most of the women are unemployed housewives.  This small community located on a hilltop overlooking the city is about 30 minutes ride from the downtown area.  What is nice about this community is its rural setting, fresh mountain air, green trees and friendly neighborhood.

When you enter the neighborhood, you will observe a typical Filipino community – lots of small stores along the road.  I wondered sometimes, considering the total number of houses and the number of ‘sari-sari stores,’ who’s going to be their customers?  I just moved in and live in this community for 5 months but haven’t seen any of those sari-sari stores closed.  Instead, their number continue to increase.

Unlike where I came from, though a little more developed and belongs to average income earners with a few who are economically above average, the small stores don’t thrive very long.  As some sari-sari stores are opened, about similar number also closes.  Some operates in only a few months then closes, but will open again a few months after.  This community is about 10 minutes ride to the downtown area.  What is surprising is the goods for sale here are more expensive than those of the community in the hilltop.

A few things I observed which I think are the contributory factors in the survival of small stores in the hilltop community are the following:

Unique Product

All of them may be categorized under small sari-sari store but many of them has its own unique product.  One sari-sari store sells rice, and fresh and frozen meat.  Beside it is another sari-sari store sells fresh and frozen fish.  Fronting them is a sari-sari store selling fruits and cooked meals.  A few walk to the left are three sari-sari stores, one sari-sari store is also a cellphone loading station.  The other two are typical sari-sari stores with no unique product but almost all of the motorcycles park near them because of the shade of the big tree.  Motorcycle is the mode of transportation in this community.  If you walk to the right from the store that sells cooked meals is another sari-sari store that sells fresh vegetables.  In front is another sari-sari store that sells cooked meals but the menu is entirely different than the previous one.  Right beside is a big store that has it all (well, almost).  If you go further, you will find more sari-sari stores selling something different from the rest.  It’s a community of sari-sari stores.

Strategic Location

A few sari-sari stores in the community do not have unique products to offer but their location made them more accessible to many households in the community.

Customer Service

It’s quite normal in a small community with a rural setting that everybody knows everybody.  Good customer service is also quite expected.  I mentioned above that there is one big store in the community with almost has it all, from ice cream and frozen delights to construction materials like cement and nails but it’s not the first store that people go to.  Customer service sucks!  If only this store provides excellent customer service, it would probably killed all those little sari-sari store near it.

Price

There are about 6 stores in the community that sells cooked meals.  One of these stores is located the farthest in a hidden location towards the community boundary.  I just learned that there is a store in that somewhat forested area when I saw people carrying packed meals every morning.  I asked one of my neighbors why they have to go there and buy when there are other stores nearby.  ‘It is very cheap and delicious,’ I was told.  I went to visit the store and found out that it is not a small store, it’s tiny.  You can see the middle-aged lady cooking.  The place is clean.  The shocking part is the price of its cooked meals.  Yes, ‘shock’ is the right word.  I was able to buy cooked vegetable for P10 which was enough for me and my brother to share.