We can’t believe you’ve never been in our store before
The Hershey History Center in the right foreground,
across the street from the Tanger outlets.
It struck such a nerve with me that I saved the Instagram post.
In the video, shared by Provisions Mercantile in Asheville, N.C., a woman was limbering as if ready to enter an athletic competition.
The text on the screen read: “Preparing for a day of locals saying, ‘I can’t believe I’ve never been in here before!’ “ It’s set against a recording of an NBA player’s pre-game hype introduction.
The caption: “Every single day we hear it: I can’t believe I’ve never been in here before!’ Don’t worry, we never hold it against you! We will always happily welcome you in like an old friend.”
Maybe a week after seeing that video, I spotted a nearly identical video on Instagram, this time featuring a competition-bound middle-aged man on behalf of Exit 9, which operates two independent gift shops in New York City.
“Like we’ve been here for 30 years,” Exit 9 commented incredulously on its post.
‘Like a mirage’
Apparently this is a global phenomenon, confirmed by comments left under the videos by other independent retailers in the United States and beyond.
It seems that large swaths of shoppers aren’t aware of the wonderful local independent retailers in their midst.
A store called Strapping Sacramento has been voted best gift shop in California’s capital city according to its Instragram profile.
“We get it everyday too, but we only have 9 years under our belts. I can’t believe it happens to you too.”
In Philadelphia, Home Works operates a home goods store.
“OMG @shopexit19,” Home Works commented, “we thought it was just us! It’s like we are a mirage in the desert … LOL”
Monsters on Main upcycles fabric remnants into quirky stuffed figures in Denison, Texas.
“OMG. So true. We are also NEVER open according to the other locals.”
‘What is Stay?’
In Hershey, we’ve had similar experiences.
We’ve been in business for eight years, selling online and at hundreds of pop-up markets, but our brick-and-mortar store opened only in June 2024 at the Hershey History Center. And our building, at one time the milk house on this converted dairy farm, is tucked near the back of the property.
I have to cut shoppers some slack if they are still just discovering us.
Still, it is disconcerting how many locals tell me they have never been in the history center museum, which has been open for 20 years. Many of them don’t even know what the history center is.
Several things appear to be at work here.
Society is awash in information, much of it of dubious worth, with fewer and fewer gatekeepers bringing order to it.
The general in-person retail experience (that is, chain stores) is incredibly lame, pushing quantity over quality, price over value, cheap imports over better-quality American-made. If you live without something long enough or never had it (in this case, compelling retail), you don’t look for it.
If you’re not a naturally curious person, you might not seek out new or unfamiliar things. There’s safety and comfort in what everyone else is doing.
We’ve stayed open late a handful of times for the history center’s jazz concerts the past two summers, which take place on the patio behind our store. We propped open the door, making it plainly evident that we’re open for business.
Only a small number of concertgoers have ever come in, many of them opting to sit in their lawn chairs and while away time on their phones (and this tends to be an older demographic).
All of this can be a little frustrating, but I take comfort in knowing that Stay’s experience has been shared by many other independent retailers, many of which have been at it for far longer than we have.
It’s going to take a lot more hard work to reach the customers who don’t know about us, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t open to the idea.
I’m less concerned about when they find us than that they do and keep coming back.