HELENA — As shopping evolves and takes on different forms, some mom-and-pop shops in Helena are having a hard time keeping up.
Big, corporate brands have more resources, can charge lower prices, and can offer conveniences that small businesses often have a hard time keeping up with.
Mike Taylor, the owner of Uphill Grill on Last Chance Gulch, says his restaurant has a five-star rating online.
Despite this, he says he often sees people choosing convenience over made-to-order quality. He sees lines around the corner at fast food franchises like McDonald's, and it’s getting harder to compete.
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"Why couldn’t it be something local that goes in there? And everybody, most of the comments that I read on there, were excited that now that they don’t have to drive across town to eat at the other McDonald's, now it’s right by the house," says Taylor about a third Golden Arches location coming soon. "I’m blown away."
Marty Burckhard has run his clothing store, The Original Stop, for more than three years, but recently was forced to close. He says it’s tough competing with bigger online companies, especially since the pandemic.
"I think once COVID happened, everybody got pretty comfortable shopping at home and it made it easy," says Burckhard. "And all these different websites started coming in like Temu and you could buy something that’s normally $50 for $10. I think things like that have really affected the smaller, mom-and-pop shops. Because we can’t really compete with the prices that the bigger places can, or these websites can, with a brick and mortar."
