In my opinion it's a cop out. Since when is the community obliged to support a business? If you're providing a product or service that's needed, you have reasonable prices and good customer service, the customers will come.
A few years ago there was a gorgeous homewares and furniture store in town. They had lovely, brightly coloured products but were ridiculously expensive. There was a cushion that I wanted, it was a regular sized cushion, for $60. What a joke! Even when they had their closing down sale it was still $30. I would have loved to support them, but paying $60 is just not in my budget.
When they closed down they left a bitter sounding message in their window saying that they'd had to close down due to lack of community support. Their ridiculous prices had nothing to do with it?
Then there was the after hours Dr service. I called them on three separate occasions. Not once did they call me back. My neighbor called them, they came to her house, stood in the doorway and looked at her son (who was laying on the couch), told her he had tonsillitis and left. They didn't even get close to him!
When they closed down they said that it was due to lack of community support. Really? Funnily enough the other after hours Dr service is doing well, probably because they answer the phone and examine the patients they visit.
It seems to me that people are very quick to blame others instead of accepting that they have some role in things. That goes for a lot of people, not just businesses. So often I hear people laying blame. What's the point? Even if someone else was responsible, the situation is what it is. So instead of complaining, deal with it and move on. When we blame others we take away our own power. If we accept responsibility that gives us some control. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to have some sort of control over my life.
