During my research, I will be focusing on the effects of Big Business and Small Businesses on their surrounding communities. In our society, there are so many large corporations that aim to monopolize business by being the dominant store of their kind. In all this competition, how can the small business compete with a multi-million dollar company. What does a mom and pop shop do when a McDonalds opens up down the street and they lose a significant amount of business. What do they do or feel when "regulars" in their store are starting to go to the larger businesses for their consumer needs. The argument goes that small businesses are more personal in the community than big businesses. My goal is not just to discover who gets the most businesses. I would like to know how they interact with the people around them. I am well aware of the fact that Westcott has fairs and events where they involve the community around them.
I will focus on Erie Blvd and their contributions, if any, to their surroundings. I know they have funds and organizations on a large scale, but do they provide service and help to the community they are in. It seems Erie is just booming with new shopping centers and main stream businesses all the time. Are they just taking up space or are they giving back to the people that support their business? Are there still mom and pop stores that find the means to thrive despite being surrounded by giants. If possible I would like to talk to employees of some of these businesses. I would like to focus on Barnes and Nobles bookstore. They are one of a massive franchise that seem to be almost everywhere. I would like to contrast them with a local bookstore on Westcott which another group member will be covering. I would also like to talk to some of the people that live in these communities young and old. How do young and old people feel about the big businesses developing and do the elders remember what things "used" to be like and how things have changed. The means by which we will gather these pieces of information will be through video and interview. I;d like for this project to be more than a simple compare and contrast of what is better because it is naive to believe one is extravagantly better than the other. There's no better perspective than the ones involved in the changes.
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I would like to see how the larger businesses help the city of Syracuse by giving back to it. I feel like Erie Blvd. is really isolated from the community because of its layout. I also think it would be interesting to see how people of different generations view Erie and Westcott and as residents of the community how they feel each has helped the neighborhoods they live.
Your proposal is very thought out. I feel bad now that we changed the topic a bit from bookstores to food stores but i think it will give us a better idea. I wonder if there are any mom and pop stores on Erie blvd. I would be really surprised if they were able to survive, and i would wonder how they managed to do so.
I think that the information that we gathered this weekend will help you a lot with your part of the project. Although we found out that the Big Businesses on Erie did do something for the Boys and Girls club in Syracuse, overall they didn't really get involved with the community in the ways that the business on Westcott Street did .
we aren't doing bookstores anymore, but in the paper, i think im going to look more into the general realm of big business vs small businesses and the government taxes. What do you think of that?
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