I was reading an article today that talked about how Chinatown here in Vancouver has been steadily seeing an increase in crime and homeless population. As a result, businesses are struggling to attract customers due to the area looking bad and with people stealing from the store that has a huge impact on revenue.
For some, it’s not only until recently where they are seriously contemplating in moving or closing up shop. Many don’t want to because they grew up in the area plus it’s a historic site which would make people sad in having to leave. From a numbers point of view, you would assume people would just pack up right away if they know that they can make more money elsewhere while having a better quality of life in running a business. It’s interesting to think about though as many times even for non business owners they would stay in a bad area if everything still works out where they have no debt as an example. That almost feels like the case here where because of the attachment to the area, as long as they can still make a profit and are alive then they are likely to just endure the negative aspect.
I would imagine larger businesses would close places down pretty quickly if they know there are better places to do business. But for the small business owner it’s not as straight forward if one is attached to the community. Would you consider that a strength or weakness for an entrepreneur to stick with it even in these scenarios with the thought that you can fix the problem eventually?