Think about all the things you’ve been missing lately. Things like sending your children off to school, hugging your senior parents, getting your hair cut, having a drink out with your friends, watching current sports events… all of those things that you may have taken for granted before the pandemic! This April, I’m especially missing the shops and restaurants in my hometown, Greensboro, NC. Places I could pop into and find familiarity. The indie shops downtown, or on the corner of Walker and Elam, or at other localist destinations like Lawndale Shopping Center, State Street, Tate Street and the Curb Market. Their storefronts are now closed, and for who knows how long? Thankfully some locally owned businesses are serving carryout and curbside, some are selling online, and some have been allowed to remain open with restrictions. Most of them have posted heartfelt signs on the door and on social media that express some version of “We’ll be back!”

Local entrepreneurs and their teams are valiantly giving their all as they try new ways of selling and delivering and surviving, but hard as they try, some won’t make it. The loans and grants and stop-gap measures that were created to keep things afloat won’t cover the paychecks and the rent and the utilities for the many months ahead as we recover from this unplanned set of circumstances. Ironically, the smaller businesses don’t seem to be getting much good news about federal assistance.

Even in better times, I heard this refrain far too often, “I can’t believe ‘they’ went out of business. I LOVED that place!!” And even though many of us loved “that place”, we didn’t always express our love with our dollars. And now we might be running out of time.

If this pandemic plays out the way it could, we might end up lost in a franchise and e-commerce land of the giants. This could be the fate of towns everywhere, causing us to lose an important aspect of our unique communities. Soon, Greensboro and other cities could have more Chipotles and Dollar Stores and Dunkin Donuts in the suburbs and less character, history, and whimsy in the neighborhoods. Amazon and Walmart could rule.

Have you bought a gift card from your favorite local business? Have you ordered a book from your local indie bookstore? Have you picked up takeout from your neighborhood eatery? Have you contributed to the artist’s tip jars and sent local food and coffee deliveries to the first responders? If you don’t do it now, when will you? If we don’t do it now, who will?