How big does your business need to be to be effective?
John’s Grocery, a tiny 61-year-old grocery store located in downtown Iowa City and near the University of Iowa campus, used to be a corner store that offered staples like dry goods, breads, etc. to feed families. Growing with their audience (while staying the same physical size), they now specialize in gourmet beer, wine, unique foods, and customer service.
From their website, “The combination of personal service, a selection of over 450 beers from around the world, and 1,500 wines makes John’s one of [the] top places to shop for beer and wine between Denver and Chicago.”
A friend of mine who works two blocks from John’s told me that he went online to order some specialty beer mugs, and he was surprised when John’s Grocery popped up in the search results. John’s has figured out how to reach the rest of the world (and bring in additional revenue), while maintaining a valuable service to the local community and staying virtually the same physical size.
Seth Godin writes today about the limits of business growth:
“More, more, more is rarely the mantra of a successful person.
There are certainly some businesses and some projects that don’t work unless they’re huge, but in your case, I’m not sure that’s true. Big enough is big enough, biggest isn’t necessary.”
Companies like John’s Grocery have embraced this idea by growing their business in specialties and not in size. They can now offer more unique items and even better service, while maintaining cultural and financial relevance in today’s world.
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