Support Small Business

[Minidisc MD]

Oh wow you convinced me, fu** you Guseppie my local pizza shop, this dude once purchased off beer, You deserve to have your business go broke

my local Italian is bangin but the owner pays the front of house girl $23 and hour and charges the other girls for every plate they drop. unfortunately the food is, as I said, bangin.

small businesses can treat staff like shit and then underpay them, they can apply public holiday surcharges and not pay staff penalty rates, and we're supposed to patronise them? in many cases they just hire the sexy 19-year old or their mate and not even people from the local area. what happens when that local business from Williamstown gets another chain going in Footscray and the Williamstown prices go up, Williamstown people pay for it, and then they pay for the initial failings of the Footscray building and then succeed? being a bit ripped off arent you?

I get all my vegetables from a local seller who has been in the area for generations, do it cheap, service is ****in appalling mind you and only use the duopoly for toothpaste and 80 cent dishwashing liquid. I support small businesses more than most i'd say but they're entitled ****ers. wish I could open a shop where I can keep every cent when it's bangin, then ask for everyone to help me when I'm failing.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Does IGA still pretend to be a small business?

 

[Caesar]

Does IGA still pretend to be a small business?

IGA’s business structure is complicated and varies from state to state. Stores range from corporate-owned that are run directly by Metcash, to super-franchisees like Richies, to individual franchisees who own their own store and source product from Metcash, to independent retailers who effectively just use it as a brand.

There are plenty of small businesses under the IGA banner, but it’s certainly not something you can assume about every store.

 

[Scotland]

I find the difference between a good Coles and a bad Coles to be noticeable but not game changing. A new, decent sized one like the one in Riverton on High Rd vs an old, shitty one like the Maylands on Guildford Rd you'd pick the former but you can still get most of the same stuff in each.

A good IGA vs a shit one is a chalk and cheese. The good IGAs are awesome. There are two of them on Stirling Hwy about 500m apart. If you've been to both you know which one to go every time.

 

[dumb]

On a personal level I feel while I still have a job, I have a responsibility to spend my money at small businesses. If I'm a regular anyway I need to keep that up if I still want to see them around after this is all done.

Not going out of my way if I've had bad service before the pandemic though...

 

[Golden_6]

On a personal level I feel while I still have a job, I have a responsibility to spend my money at small businesses. If I'm a regular anyway I need to keep that up if I still want to see them around after this is all done.

Not going out of my way if I've had bad service before the pandemic though...

Same, still being on my regular income and feeling lucky but also saving more money as I can't spend money on the things I usually do. I'm trying to spend money at local cafes and restaurants I usually would that offer takeaway & delivery options.

 

[Dirty Bird]

I have a bunch of local businesses I go to. Bar, pizza shop, bakery, cafes etc. If I abandon Coles/Woolies then whenever this thing is over they'll be fine.

The company will be.

But some stores are struggling, mine is asking people to take annual leave, telling some people to ask other stores if they can get more hours etc.

1 of our full timers in overhead is taking annual leave on fridays
1 of our full timers in bakery is taking annual leave to finish early everyday (only working 25h week rather than 38)
1 of our full timers has this week off
1 of our casuals has zero hours this week

Permanent rosters are based around a regular week in sales. For us it’s ~$700k in sales
Last week we did $560k
Yesterday we did $55k less than last Monday.
We might just do $400k in sales this week.

Sure, that’s more sales than small businesses, but casuals and part timers on low hours at our store are getting screwed.

There’s no hours to hand out now. But the business and other stores are still making decent money so these employees are worse off than small businesses. And before you say the company needs to take care of these people.each store does rosters week by week. You can’t tell another store your available days for them to roster you yet as you don’t even know what you yourself is working yet. So you’re grabbing the scraps elsewhere.

 

[Scotland]

It's not business as usual for all stores, but a lot of businesses out there would be over the moon to still be doing 60-70% of regular trade. I worked there and understand staff hours are a function of sales. This situation isn't good for anyone.

 

[Caesar]

The company will be.

But some stores are struggling, mine is asking people to take annual leave, telling some people to ask other stores if they can get more hours etc.

1 of our full timers in overhead is taking annual leave on fridays
1 of our full timers in bakery is taking annual leave to finish early everyday (only working 25h week rather than 38)
1 of our full timers has this week off
1 of our casuals has zero hours this week

Permanent rosters are based around a regular week in sales. For us it’s ~$700k in sales
Last week we did $560k
Yesterday we did $55k less than last Monday.
We might just do $400k in sales this week.

Sure, that’s more sales than small businesses, but casuals and part timers on low hours at our store are getting screwed.

There’s no hours to hand out now. But the business and other stores are still making decent money so these employees are worse off than small businesses. And before you say the company needs to take care of these people.each store does rosters week by week. You can’t tell another store your available days for them to roster you yet as you don’t even know what you yourself is working yet. So you’re grabbing the scraps elsewhere.

I’m sympathetic to employees at big stores, but realistically my dollar is going to go further to in terms of keeping people employed if I spend it at my corner store.

Not only is my weekly shop a bigger proportion of their total sales, but they also generally have a higher employees-to-revenue ratio than Coles or Woolies.

It’s also easier for big chains to ramp up again after a downturn and closed stores than reestablishing a small business which has gone completely bust.

 

[Run n Spread]

Looking at businesses that are small but rely on regular traffic. Things like caterers or service business can get by on the occasional big order but things like Cafes, hairdressers (who are open still), butchers who rely on a large number coming in and out and/or deal in non perishables need the most help.

Retail wise. Big chains have taken right over. So hard to say. Supermarkets etc are needed more than ever. So will survive. An IGA (or equivalent)or even restaurant doing a little take out need the support as they still have the big rents.

Service wise its more the start ups or smaller operations who will struggle. Anything that can be substituted online will help. Good thread.