According to the Small Business Administration:
- The 28 million small businesses in America account for 54% of all U.S. sales.
- Small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s.
- The 600,000 plus franchised small businesses in the U.S. account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people.
- The small business sector in America occupies 30-50% of all commercial space, an estimated 20-34 billion square feet.
- Furthermore, the small business sector is growing rapidly. While corporate America has been "downsizing", the rate of small business "start-ups" has grown, and the rate for small business failures has declined.
- The number of small businesses in the United States has increased 49% since 1982.
- Since 1990, as big business eliminated 4 million jobs, small businesses added 8 million new jobs.
For years, I've been intrigued by those Mom and Pop businesses that make America what it is. I've always done my best to frequent those places and keep them going, even while the shadows of big business and chain restaurants hover nearby, hoping to overtake them.
Since grade school, I've been fascinated with the postal mailing address: 123 Main Street, Anywhere, USA. It's an address that invokes the wholesomeness of Americana. The United States is not simply made up of big cities. It is also a collection of little towns and people who frequent their Main Streets.
With this project, I've set out to honor those small business owners putting in long hours and dedicating themselves to the American dream. They deserve recognition in an age when so many people seem to have forgotten them.
I'm trying to make it easy to remember them because their actual mailing address is, in fact: 123 Main Street.
Do you know about a business I should profile? Email me: 123MainStreetUS@gmail.com
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