Small Businesses: What To Improve

Macy Roberts May 4, 2025

When I was looking into the local businesses in Lynchburg I wanted to learn more about why some of these businesses fail. While I am encouraging college students to visit these businesses, I believe it is important to understand why so many businesses in Lynchburg are closing and what the successful ones are doing well. I spoke with a few of my fellow students at Lynchburg as to why they don't shop and I found one answer particularly interesting.

"I really didn't go to a lot of places downtown or just not the basic stuff like Target because they were not really advertised. I think I may have gone more local shops if they were advertised more", said Braelyn Blackstone, a junior at the university. I found it interesting that she didn't branch out more and asked how she found some of the local places she now enjoys. She stated, "I honestly just didn't know about a lot of the places but I mostly got places recommended by classmates"

Word of mouth is a great initial tool for small businesses to gain attraction, but it won't always be enough. Lynchburg works as a community but I assume that the market of college students isn't being catered to as well as it could be. if they can target the market that makes up a large portion of their population, they might be able to stay successful for longer. Local businesses are strong when supported by the community and college students are a large part of the Lynchburg community.