“Hunting down the item isn’t as much fun anymore,” she says. “There are some people — I can count them on one hand — that are regulars.”

Barrett says she isn’t thrilled about selling on the Internet, but she understands that the marketplace is evolving.

While some are benefiting from the Internet, other businesses are losing money. Spin More Records owner Phil Peachock says his sales have been hurt by the Internet — specifically when people download songs.

“Record companies shot themselves in the foot. They should’ve kept prices down,” he says. He has felt the trickle-down effect of this problem in his sales.

Despite this problem, Peachock’s business has been around for 23 years because of a loyal customer base. His customers know he will go out of his way to find an item for them.

“You do that for 23 years, people tell people,” he says. “The good ones stay. The bad ones don’t.”

when they don’t stay
Dan Smith, executive director of Kent’s Chamber of Commerce, says an average of three to four small businesses open every year. On average three to four close each year.

“The retail landscape is changing,” he says, explaining small stores are “points of destination.”

There are a variety of small shops downtown — everything from cell phone shops to bookstores. Most small clothing stores cannot compete with the large chains ones, he says, and thrift shops are in and out of the marketplace because they have a high failure rate.

When needed, the shop owners can get free business counseling from Kent State’s Small Business Development Centers.

The group’s director, Linda Yost, says more than 80 percent of the nation’s businesses, and 90 percent of Ohio’s, are small ones. She says a small business is one that has fewer than 500 employees, she says.

She says the center primarily deals with crisis management. An example, Yost says, is the recent economic recession, which has hurt small businesses. Some of those owners have turned to the center for help creating a business plan.

Smith and Yost agree that small business owners open their shops as a sign of independence.

“After corporations lay off people, people [become inspired] to start their own business,” Yost says.