USA & Main: It’s a new small-business world
USA TODAY storefront celebrates Main Street
Main Street. It has a lovely patina, does it not? Evoking iconic Americana images of mom and apple pie, neighbors and hometowns, indeed, of small business itself, Main Street historically radiates a glow as warm and sweet as a wintry cup of cocoa.
But given the rise of the Internet, global competition, recessions and wars, and changing demographics and tastes, Main Street today is different from the Main Street of yore.
Warm and fuzzy still? Sure. But Main Street today also is higher tech, more multicultural and increasingly innovative.
This new Main Street is the one we will be celebrating, encouraging and assisting with the launch of USA & Main, a new section for small business, start-ups and entrepreneurs at USATODAY.com, which launches this week. For a preview and to sign up for our newsletter, visit usaandmain.com.
Like Main Street itself, our coverage has evolved, and we think you’ll love the changes. Visit usaandmain.com to find stories, videos, tips and hacks to help you run your business better or start the company you’ve always dreamed of.
While you browse, consider all of the ways Main Street’s small businesses have morphed over the years.
❚ Main Street entrepreneurs used
to sell only offline. The new Main Streeters sell everywhere. Whereas traditional Main Street was a local affair where proprietors knew their local cus-
tomers by name, the new Main Street business owners are just as devoted to using the Internet to find new customers. Indeed, e-commerce now fuels Main Street’s growth.
❚ Main Street once connected with customers only in person. Studies regularly show in-person, back-slapping, great-to-see-ya networking remains one of the favorite ways for small business owners to market their business. But social media is increasingly important. Networking now happens not only at the local chamber of commerce but also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, websites, blogs and more.
❚ Main Street used to be mostly white, male and heterosexual. The new Main Street is much more diverse. Needless to say, our society’s attitudes, demographics and laws are changing, and Main Street today is changing with that and becoming more multiethnic, multicultural and inclusive.
❚ Main Street used to advertise only in the newspaper, on TV and ra- dio and on billboards and bus benches. Pity the small-business owner who has not embraced the awesome power of a website, social media, pay-perclick, e-newsletters, apps, smart phones and all the rest.
❚ Main Street used to be a 9-to-5 affair. New Main Street proprietors know employees want to work wherever and whenever they want and that customers want to be able to shop the same way. Yet while changes abound for Main Street, one thing that will remain the same is that small businesses embody the best the USA has to offer.
Small-business owners know that together they can do so much more than they could do apart. The difference is how we band together. Main Street is tapping into that change, and at USA TODAY Money, so are we.
Steve Strauss, @Steve Strauss on Twitter, is a lawyer specializing in small business and entrepreneurship and has been writing for USATODAY .com for 20 years. Email: sstrauss@mrallbiz.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.