About a decade ago, Shane Reed, a Neshoba County native who graduated from Mississippi State in 2000, decided to open a business in the Golden Triangle.
He came to Starkville for school, fell in love with the town and decided to put roots down.
Reed grew up watching his family operate Woody’s Stop-N-Shop in Noxapater. He knew the ins and outs of operating a small business and felt Starkville needed what he called a “real coffeehouse.”
So in the spring of 2005, after a stint as the manager at a local theater, he opened Strange Brew, a coffeehouse along Highway 12.
College students — there are roughly 20,000 at MSU — were target customers. Soon, though, the community as a whole took to the place. Local professionals, families out on the town and high school kids alike, became loyal coffee connoisseurs, and Reed’s coffeehouse essentially had the market to itself.
Then, in late May, a Starbucks opened directly across the street from Strange Brew.
Reed was asked recently what his initial reaction was when the popular, Seattle, Washington-based coffee giant opened one of its 20,000-plus stores less than 100 feet from Strange Brew’s front door.
“It felt like a corporate bully move,” he said. “But I quickly took it as a challenge. It’s made the Brew even better and I thank them for that.”
Surprisingly, that response is similar to what other small business owners in the Golden Triangle say about corporate competition.
Because national chains, when compared to homegrown stores, often have bigger facilities, more employees and cheaper prices, they carry a reputation for having a negative effect on, or squeezing out, mom-and-pop businesses.
It happens.
But not always.
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Last week, Mike Perkerson stood in one of the aisles at Military Hardware & Garden Center and said: “I firmly believe competition is good for you. It keeps you on your toes. It’s not a bad word.”
Perkerson owns Military Hardware. The business is a family affair.
Perkerson’s parents opened it more than a half-century ago. Today, Mike’s son, Brad, is the manager. The father and son routinely spend 60 hours-plus a week working in their 4,200 square foot store along Military Road.
“We stay busy,” Mike Perkerson said.
In 2001, a big hardware rival came to town. A Lowe’s opened on Highway 45 North. Several years later, the chain relocated to a 120,000 square foot facility on Military Road, a few miles away from Military Hardware.
A Lowe’s spokesperson declined to tell The Dispatch how many people a week visit the Columbus location. There are more than 1,700 Lowe’s nationwide, though, and the spokesperson said, “Overall, 15 million customers a week shop our stores.”
Nonetheless, Mike Perkerson said Military Hardware has not been negatively affected by Lowe’s presence.
“If anything,” he said, “my business picked up.”
Reed saw a similar trend. When Starbucks opened, he said, “traffic went up.” Strange Brew’s sales for August and September this year, when compared to the same months last year, are up 22 percent.
Reed’s theory: Some customers, understanding the dynamics of the chain versus local issue, make a point of doing their business with him.
“Locals supported us even more,” he said. “That fuels us.”
Perkerson said he couldn’t explain why Lowe’s helped Military Hardware. His theory, however, mirrored Reed’s.
“People who use us, stick with us,” he said. “Some folks have done business with us for years, and now their sons and grandsons do.”
He added that people searching the local marketplace, when faced with more choices, are more apt to open up their checkbooks when they find a lower price.
Also, what homegrown businesses lack in manpower — Military Hardware has seven employees, the Columbus Lowe’s has 120 — is made up for with good customer service, he said. Perkerson routinely greets customers, whether he knows them or not, as “friend.”
Reed said his customers, who he has dubbed “Strangers,” get more than a cup of coffee. They get an experience, he said.
“We care about coffee education…” he said, adding that baristas at Strange Brew “aren’t robots.”
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There are more than 125,000 people living in the Golden Triangle, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The argument can be made that the region’s population can simply support multiple retail and restaurant offerings.
“If I had all the business in town,” Perkerson said with a laugh, “I couldn’t handle it. And I wouldn’t want to try.”
In a way, Reed agreed, though with an edgier tone.
“We like to think [Starbucks] could introduce new people to coffee,” he said. “And then those customers can ‘graduate’ to the good stuff at Strange Brew.”
Ole Hickory Steak House, on Highway 45 North in Columbus, is an institution. It opened in an old dairy barn in the late 1960s and has developed an almost cult-like following for its rustic atmosphere and slim menu: any sort of steak you want, a baked potato, a salad and bread.
“That’s what we have,” Sue Thompson, the restaurant’s owner, said. “But we try to do that perfect.”
In early 2013, a LongHorn Steakhouse opened just down the road from Ole Hickory. The popular chain employs approximately 60 people and, in addition to its steaks, offers appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, fish and chicken.
The Dispatch asked a LongHorn spokesperson this week how the restaurant is doing.
“I’m sorry we cannot share this information as it is proprietary,” the spokesperson said. “What I can tell you is that we serve many guests in the Columbus area and we’re proud to be a part of this community.”
Ole Hickory, where a 10-minute wait to be seated is expected, is doing O.K. itself, Thompson said. The restaurant can seat roughly 150 people at one time and a staff of 11 serves them all.
“They haven’t affected me at all,” Thompson said of LongHorn. “I haven’t noticed it a bit.”
Like Reed and Perkerson, Thompson carries no ill-will toward her competition.
“I hope everyone does good — I really do,” she said. “As long as they do O.K., I’m doing O.K. As soon as they start going down, it won’t be long, I’ll be following them.”
The well-wishing only goes so far, though.
Perkerson said he has never set foot in Lowe’s. Not in Walmart either. The Dispatch asked Reed if he has ever visited the Starkville Starbucks.
“Negative,” he said.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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