AIBU to think you cannot say use us or lose us when you barely open?

[catchingup1]

There is a local independent cafe near me that has been posting a lot on social media about how people need to support them or they will disappear. I do try to support independents where I can.

The tone of the posts is very much use us or lose us, talking about how they cannot compete with the big coffee chains and how locals need to step up.
So I made a point of going.

It is only open 10 to 3, closed Wednesdays and Sundays.

The big chains they are comparing themselves to are open early mornings, evenings, weekends, basically when people actually want coffee.

I am not saying it is easy running a small business and I do not expect them to match chain hours exactly. But they are blaming customers for not supporting them while being open very short hours.

It will be counter productive anyway. Even if it's a perfectly nice cafe with hours that suit me, I don't want to go somewhere with moaning owners who think they're owed a living.

I get (probably unreasonably) irritated by this type of small business messaging. It actively puts me off using them.

Tracesmen want to park outside and be served quickly. That's why Greggs in my town is always busy - you can park outside. The independent coffee shops don't have parking, so serve a different crowd, usually young Mums after school drop off. 10 o'clock is too late.

sad fishing marketing winds me up! A local cafe to me did the same, trying to shame people into going, when they went bust, they claimed no one supported them. I didn’t want to go to a place that marketed itself as a victim.

Yes me too.

Its the difference between a message thats full of guilt tripping and blaming customers versus here is why we'd love to see you in our cafe/shop!

Customers go where they feel welcomed, not where they get the message of "it’s your responsibility to keep us alive.”

We have a similar situation- small local cafe opposite a primary school, with loads of classes in the weekend. Residential area, so no offices for lunch time traffic.
They are open on weekdays 9:30 to 2:30, saturdays 10:00 to 14:00, Sunday closed.
And they are complaining that nobody goes there…. I’ve literally never seen them open, and i walk past several times per day

You can also get a (very) large cup of tea and something to eat for less than the price of the tea in a "nice" place.

I use Greggs quite a lot, because why on earth would I want to spend £3.50 on a small cup of hot water and a tea bag?

Shout out to all the numerous barber shops in my local town, most of which advertise online that they're open on Saturdays, most of which were obstinately shut when we went by a couple of Saturdays ago. One was open and advertised walk ins, but when we stuck our head in at 1.40 gestured to the guy he was working on and said "We shut at 2.00!"

I mean, surely most teenage boys/ working men are at school/ work during the week and Saturday is the day they're most likely to get their hair cut?

We eventually found a Turkish barber, which was doing a roaring trade. I'm looking forward to all the pitiful FB posts from the other barbers about having to close due to lack of support and veiled digs at "foreigners".

I see similar social media posts from local gift shops here. In this town, there are a stupid number of gift shops and and I don't know how they stay open. I feel guilty whenever I see one of the posts despite the fact that I don't even want to buy endless knick knacks, scarves or novelty books for people's birthdays.

Fair enough, but don't complain when they close down and there is nowhere "convenient" for you.

We had the same with our two village pubs. When they closed everyone was up in arms about not having them anymore, but those same people didn't support them enough when they were open. People just missed not being able to go to the pub once or twice per year when it suited them.

But this establishment isn't opening when it's convenient. Instead of sending out the 'use us or lose us' message, try altering your business model and find out why people aren't using you.

No I dont complain because I dont use them in the first place because they are never open when it is convenient for me hence, I dont miss them when they go.

This rationale also applies to businesses- you can open whenever you damn well like, its entirely up to you, but if you only open for 4 hours three days a week when most of us are at work then dont complain you arent making a profit 🤷‍♀️

I am not the one on social media whining about it whereas these businesses are

I wonder if this is another part of the over-romanticised aspects of running your own business, “sticking it to the man” in that you can post whatever you like on social media without being told off at work. Many employers these days have social media policies where you’re not allowed to post certain things, strong political opinions etc, and larger companies will have marketing departments with strict policies as to what can be posted.

There have been loads of stories over the years where local business owners have posted inflammatory things online, used their company social media as a personal rant space etc and it doesn’t always come across well.

In my town, local businesses really don't help themselves. The only remaining butcher shuts at 2pm on a Saturday, and 3pm weekdays.
No cafes open after 5pm (I genuinely would use them later - but not for caffeine obvs). It's 4pm on Sundays.
Market stalls clear off at 2pm on Saturday.
Two shops of 'baby tat' have opened and closed within the past year.
A 'gym' with 5 reformer Pilates machines is always empty (and about to close - it's been open a year).
Even the Turkish barbers (x3) are empty (but for them that's not an issue 😉

Threse businesses are training their customers to lower their expectations of them.

Eg there's a park cafe that I like that is meant to be open until 3 but often closes by 2pm if it has been quiet. The knock on effect is that because I don't know whether they'll be wanting to close at 2 or 3 that day, I never go there any later than 1.30 as I don't want to be trying to finish my coffee while staff hop from foot to foot getting ready to close early.

It does seem that there are some people who think that running a business is their right and that they are doing a huge service to the community by running one. The fact is that we all lead busy lives and most of us are on a limited budget so we need things to be reasonably priced and convenient. If a small business can't offer that then it won't be successful.

I’m in a small town with a now dying mostly dead high street (like many places). When my son was primary age, I used to wonder why so many of the shops opened at 10am when the busiest time for footfall was parents returning home after school drop off - we couldn’t buy anything on the way home. I would walk home past closed shops, hop in my car and go to tesco. So many places are wedded to the idea of the 10am opening, it must be the least worse option if you can only manage short hours.

We had a cafe like this near us. They were often on Facebook complaining about how hard it was and how people weren't supporting them. They kept closing unexpectedly or saying on one social media platform that they'd be open at 10am the following morning, but then they'd post on a different platform that they'd be open at 11am (!!) They'd then ignore us when we arrived outside shortly after 10... We gave up.

Yeah. I shared this story on a thread like this a little while ago. There was an independent creator I knew and liked and I bought a lot from her. Then she started posting very strident political opinions on her social media, where she also promotes her business. I very much disagreed but was still going to buy from her until she started ranting that she didn't want money from anyone who didn't agree, we were fucked up pieces of shit and all the rest of it. So I started buying elsewhere and I guess others did too because the business has closed.

Ironically if I didnt use them i wouldnt care if I lost them...

We have a great one near us that opens at eight on a Saturday and nine on a Sunday. It’s always busy at that time, gets the park run kids and parents on a Sunday which ten am openers would not. It’s a bakery as well though so suppose that’s linked to being early risers.

she didn't want money from anyone who didn't agree, we were fucked up pieces of shit and all the rest of it

Good grief - she called her customers pieces of shit and then had to close her business?

What a mystery that is 🤭😂

Most people go between 10-4, I would think.

What annoys me especially is when these cafes close early without notice . I make a special effort to go there, and then find them closed. 😠

We have the same, plenty of independent shops and cafes on our little high street but after 4pm it's dead.

Chains like Costa/Nero and chain shops like M&S food, Cook, WH Smith are open but only until 5,30pm. It was pointless taking DD for a treat after school or finding somewhere to wait or shop until an after school club finished. And we have 2 primary schools in walking distance.

We lost a good butcher, every shop is replaced by another cafe (which doesn't last), nail bar, barber or charity shop.

There is decent traffic until after lunch and on Saturdays so it seems they are making enough money with SAHPs or pensioners but they do loose the crowd who works and can come after 4-5pm or the parents who wait for their children.