EDITORIAL

How about Hayseed Junction?

OR DECADES the major population movement in this country was the migration from rural to city living. Recently, however, the head counters have discovered a slight reversal: a trend to population gains in small towns. Suburban and non metropolitan areas have registered net migration gains of 5.0 and 1.3 millions respectively in the latest census tabulations. While presently small, the trend to increasing growth of small towns is unquestionable.

As a result, small town merchants now are beginning to face a classic situation. Growth means more business, but it also is attracting more competition which can be a serious problem. Yet the problem can be turned into an opportunity by those alert enough to turn events to their own advantage.

There is no intrinsic reason why the small town dealer shouldn't be as good as the big city operator. Yet, this has not always been the case. The lack of competition has brought complacen-

DAVID CUTLER editor- publ isher

cy. And that lettrargy is attracting the bigs from the city who see small town America as a profitable alternative or addition to the over stored and fiercely competitive city environment.

There are many excellent stores in small towns and we've been pleased to feature them in our pages. Yet there are also too many that do not measure up to reasonable business standards. To those we say be aware. Remember what the first fast food franchise did to your local greasy spoon coffee shop? Look out over that filthy counter of yours, across the dusty shelves to the narrow, finger-smudged front door. Ask yourself, will most of my customers still prefer to shop here if they can go instead to a shiny new, state-of-the-art chain store? Good question. You better think about it now before subsequent events decide the question for you.

To the bigs we suggest a careful examination of the opportunities in selected small towns. As to who will eventually prevail, we have no favorites. Let the marketplace decide.