You are visiting a small town; what would turn you off from making a purchase in a small shop?

I am looking for what makes a shop/business most attractive to a customer. Trying to shake up the merchants in our small town. Will be giving classes and who knows better than the public? Appreciate your help on this; I have my ideas, want to know yours. Thanks!

I travel a lot all over the world and what turns me off to the point that I will not go in to shop or even browse is a commercial look of the place. For that I have large shopping malls at home.

But in small towns and I visited 100s of them in many countries all over the world, the atmosphere is what will draw me in like magnet. And if there is a merchant with a friendly grin with an interest as of where I am coming from, I will not resist to buy something, anything, needing it or not.

Some little items I now have at home have a stories attached to it, for people ask me what it is for or where I got it. Also I must point out that with ever increasing number of items being commercially made in China, I always look for local production. To me nothing can be more disgusting then souvenir from Paris made in China.

But how pleasant is a souvenir from Alaska! Transparent acrylic dome paper weight with a real moose drop sealed inside with hand written note Come Back Again Soon to Skagway. A little hand carved match box with a hand painted palm tree and a pinch of sand glued to it from Jamaica. Hand made pottery related to the place in Moravia.

You know my friend, people all over the world, Americans and Canadians especially love good story. So if you have something of curiosity in your town, from history, largest bass ever caught in local river, monster, ghost, cleanest air caught in a can to take home with and if you are from Texas, the biggest ever midget would attract my attention for sure and I would probably buy one or at least a picture of it.

Tell your merchants to be less commercial, friendly and most of all genuinely just them selves with as much of a local flair and product as they can get their hands on. Local cuisine specialty is also a big draw to me, for nothing can make a visitor more happy than a good tasty meal or dessert he can't have at home.

Let me know how your classes went. Providing your town is geared to tourism, it is a necessity today to have a City or Local Merchants website. But again, NOT COMMERCIAL looking. Friendly, with local children鈥檚 drawings, local events, the least commercial looking the better.

All the best to you and to your town merchants as well.

Too much stuff in a too small space. I won't even go in there if it looks like that.