What makes Marysville, Marysville?
Many have said they like the small town atmosphere here where they feel safe, their children can play in the neighborhood and the amenities that surround the area are enough to keep them from moving to a big city.
Some have even said they appreciate having locally owned newspaper but the desired amenities mentioned more often than not include restaurants and retail shopping. For years the town consisted of businesses like Weiss, Carneys, Monarch Sports, Hayes and Gray, Heckers Shoes, Hermies Home Restaurant, Coopers DQ, Dinner Bell, Lamplighter and The Old Town Inn, and has always been open for further development. But those looking at the area were hesitant, because there weren’t enough rooftops for them to take the risk and commit their money.
That issue of housing has gone away with the recent growth the community has experienced. However, another has reared its head.
The new issue playing out is that local people are spending more time and money on the internet, so the local brick and mortar businesses are seeing less traffic-which translates into less sales.
What that means is that those businesses are having to decide how long they can wait for the crowds to come back and if they don’t come back, will they have to close.
Unfortunately, in the last year or so we have published too many closing announcements including-MC Sports, Best Buy, Dunhams and just this week, Hinkelys. All are now gone from this area.
A conversation happened on my2centsworth.biz about these closings where some said they wanted a choice locally and were sad the businesses were closing because they don’t like to drive for those amenities. But they also admitted they didn’t want to pay more for that choice.
Keep in mind internet giants like Amazon don’t care if local people lose their jobs when a business that competes with them closes – they just want to keep expanding their database of buyers.
As businesses close or are forced to sell to a new owner, the one thing that has never changed is the need for residents to spend their money locally when they have a choice.
An example was recently shared where a local man needed a new refrigerator and was in Columbus shopping with his friends. Once he decided on what he wanted to buy, he left the store so he could buy that same model at a store in Marysville. His friends found it funny that he would take the time to do all that when the Columbus store would deliver right to his house. His actions showed his friends that it really does matter in the end if you spend your money here because he worked in town and appreciated the fact that the local store employed local people. So if he had an issue he knew he could go back to them for help.
The point is that from 2018 forward we all need to be intentional about shopping local. Whether its buying your cars, groceries, appliances or printing-think about buying them in town, because it is a marathon not a sprint and those efforts will keep the money recirculating in Marysville and Union County.
In the end though, the small Norman Rockwell towns like Marysville whose character has been defined by those local storefronts will start to see their quaint charm diluted and blended into the canvas if we don’t make an effort to change our buying habits.
Keep that in mind when you ask yourself what makes Marysville, Marysville to you.