I’ve been reflecting the past couple years on the growing availability of products in our industry, available for sale online. With the COVID pandemic, online giants like Amazon, Walmart and others reaped a windfall of profits because many were stuck at home, afraid to go out for fear of spreading the virus or just not wanting to deal with the mask mandates.
Decades ago, the late Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives, became rather well known for saying, "All politics is local." What he meant by that is that a politician’s success is overwhelmingly impacted by his ability to understand, work on and lobby for the issues his constituents most care about. Usually, those were not “big ideas” but simple, run-of-the-mill and everyday concerns impacting common citizens. He suggested that if you mastered the ability to represent those “local concerns” at a national level, then you’d be a success. I believe he was right.
I’m going to suggest today that like politics, all business is local. And we do ourselves and our neighbors a great disservice if we forget that. Your local retailer, like your local politician to a certain extent, can be your advocate on getting the things you need, sharing tips and tricks, working hard to service your firearms, maybe offering a place to shoot and test, and providing great advice about ammunition, optics and other accessories that match your firearm. |
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