Welcome to Main Street - the quiet revolution of doing business - in the 21st Century

When I was a kid and visited my home town each Christmas there was a tradition of going to see the lights on Commercial Street, it was one of the main business districts through the 50's, 60's and 70's in Springfield, Missouri.  In the 80's Commercial Street and down town went through some tough times business left and now today we have a resurgence in this district. 

Doing business on a street like that where you walk up and down its sidewalks has a different feel then going to the mall, its a small town atmosphere where you know the shop owners and you know their families. When we moved into the 80's and 90's and the suburbanization of America going to shop did not have the same feel as my parents described. 

Who would have thought we would ever revert back to Main Street and building that relationship with that shop owner - in the 21st century what is happening is we are getting back to that developing relationships getting to know the people who are running their business on a personal level and being more than a customer but a friend to them as well - its not down town where this is happening but on the internet - the internet which seems at first a very impersonal way to do business is having the opposite effect on America - we are becoming each others friends on FaceBook, and trade websites - we share our hopes dreams and struggles and accomplishments here on websites like Active Rain where our population now stands at 166,293 but when you get to studying the dynamic its more like a community of 166,293 where everyone is sharing - and encouraging one another. 

The local mom and pop operation now has a .com behind its address but check your Facebook and they are also our friends and neighbors  - our world is shrinking and the internet is having a profound effect on the way we do business - not only are we clients and customers we are again friends and neighbors.