It\u2019s no secret that small businesses face many challenges and La Mesa small businesses are no exception. Recently, three local businesses \u2013\u2013 Cosmos Coffee Caf\u00e9, O\u2019Dunns\u2019s Fine Art, and Sanfilippos Pizza \u2013\u2013 announced they are closed, closing, or being sold. These disappearing small businesses bring to mind the lyrics from an Alan Jackson song, \u201cLittle Man.\u201d<\/p>\n Running a small, family-owned business \u201cis hard and getting harder,\u201d said Roz Oserin, co-owner of Pret-A-Porter salon. For example, she points to how information technology and social media now require constant attention in order to remain current. Also, complying with human resources regulations is challenging and too expensive to \u201chire out,\u201d so she handles all HR matters herself.<\/p>\n According to Oserin, \u201cjust keeping up\u201d means researching, asking questions, seeking advice and mentoring, or hiring a business coach (as she did), and doing her own website and bookkeeping. She also changed her business model to build a team that works together as a stable, loyal, and productive staff. \u201cThe most important clients are my employees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Competition with large retailers is also a major challenge for small businesses, and a cause of disappearing centers like La Mesa Village. \u201cThose who support Amazon aren\u2019t going to have their little towns,\u201d said Oserin \u2013\u2013 a comment reminiscent of Jackson\u2019s \u201cLittle Man\u201d lyrics.<\/p>\n Chris Gauger of La Mesa Lumber and Hardware finds government regulations as one of his biggest challenges for his business. Specifically, he pointed to how the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations are more stringent for businesses than individuals, even though there are vastly more privately-owned vehicles than business-owned vehicles. While acknowledging air quality is an important issue, he said CARB regulations are \u201cdamning\u201d to small businesses by forcing fleet replacement at much faster rates. Equipment and vehicles could be operated serviceably for 20 to 30 years but now must now be replaced after 10 years, he said. And the newer, compliant vehicles are more expensive, diverting funds needed for business improvements and requirements, such as information technology for business operations and labor costs for maintaining full-time, stable employees critical to providing superior service to customers. As Gauger explained, \u201cLoyal customers make the difference, so better service is the key.\u201d<\/p>\n Frank Dittmer, owner of What-a-Dish and a board member of the La Mesa Merchants Association, also faces challenges, but also sees the potential for businesses in the Village. A relative newcomer since 2012, he sees the Village as \u201ca very unique area in San Diego County,\u201d where few older business districts remain \u2013\u2013 let alone ones with a Trolley stop smack in the middle of it. \u201cAn untapped resource,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n To Dittmer, the Village is \u201ca little big town\u201d reminiscent of \u201cMayberry,\u201d where he regularly shares morning coffee with local residents; puts out a water dish for pets; and knows the names of his neighboring small business owners. However, Dittmer\u2019s business faced some rough challenges posed by the city\u2019s streetscape improvement project. During the height of construction, it was nearly impossible for customers to enter his street front store because there was \u201cno parking and no sidewalk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Once the streetscape project is finished, Dittmer sees a vision for the Village quite opposite of the boarded-up shops in Jackson\u2019s \u201cLittle Man\u201d song \u2013\u2013 a town center comparable to the High Streets in England, where all the shops are centrally located; locals go downtown for their regular shopping needs; major restaurants are anchors (Bo Beau\u2019s at one end and another high-end restaurant at the other); and new retailers moving into the area.<\/p>\n The Merchants Association is also considering new events beyond Oktoberfest and Christmas in The Village, such as quarterly \u201cWalk About Nights,\u201d where small businesses stay open later in an open house format. New events, together with some of the staples such as the Thursday night \u201cBack to the 50s\u201d car shows (which were cancelled this year due to construction), are envisioned to capitalize upon the Village\u2019s uniqueness and character, said Dittmer, adding that a \u201cseamless\u201d Village on both sides of Spring Street would add to the character.<\/p>\n Down La Mesa Boulevard, on the other side of Spring Street from What-a-Dish, is Trattoria Tiramisu. \u201cI don\u2019t know how I do it,\u201d said owner David Chiodo of operating in La Mesa for over 11 years, where he views city residents as \u201cthe greatest.\u201d Like Dittmer, Chiodo noted the adverse impact of streetscape construction.<\/p>\n \u201cThe construction just killed [business],\u201d he said, adding that the \u201cBusinesses Open During Construction\u201d signs posted during construction may work against the businesses by encouraging potential customers to drive past La Mesa Boulevard. Oktoberfest also had an impact on his business because the street closure eliminated customer parking and impacted access for deliveries and he did less business than normal, he said.<\/p>\n Chiodo offered advice for how city officials could improve relations with small businesses: \u201cWork with the businesses. Make it easy on the landlords and businesses. Stand with the businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, by his account, Chiodo has a terrific landlord who understands the challenges of operating a small business and together they plan on working with city hall to get the restaurant\u2019s patio space enlarged. He also said the two-to-four hours of free parking was a good decision by the city.<\/p>\n Even after receiving \u201ca very good offer\u201d to sell his restaurant, Chiodo has decided to remain in La Mesa for a year or two, to see if it will be worth it to stay. Like Dittmer, Chiodo has a vision of people walking La Mesa Boulevard, shopping and enjoying a fine meal.<\/p>\n Critical elements of the city\u2019s distinctive small town character \u2013\u2013 the \u201clittle man\u201d owners and operators of its small businesses \u2013\u2013 routinely face down challenges from multiple directions. They work hard at finding ways to remain open, be successful, and plan for the future in the face of such challenges: new skill requirements, regulations, increasing labor costs, making hard business decisions on investing scarce resources for the future, seeking out professional assistance, envisioning a new environment, loving what they do, and seeking to provide the best possible customer service to their customers.<\/p>\n They are the little men and women of which Alan Jackson sings. But let us hope the ending will be different.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By J.S. Anderson |\u00a0Contributing Writer<\/p>","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":222324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"The \u2018Little Man\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/785"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Web_Little-Man\"](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Web_Little-Man.jpg\")
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