The mayor of my city and the governor of my state raise the possibility of new lockdowns, which would mean "non-essential" businesses would be closed. Government officials in other places are also speaking of such things.
At the same time, they are encouraging people to support small businesses. I wholeheartedly agree, whether that "small business" is a bike shop, book store or beauty salon.
One thing I fear, though, is that this might be the "last chance" for some establishments that barely survived the lockdowns of last spring. Whatever business they do might tide them over for the next couple of weeks, or however long they can operate before they're forced to close.
Another worry is that some customers who resorted to Amazon during the lockdowns won't return to their old shopping habits. They may have been lulled by the convenience of having PlayStations or whatever brought to their doors.
What some small business owners have done, of course, is to start making deliveries. Luca Ambrogio Santini is one of them.
He operates LibriSottoCasa, which he describes as "the smallest bookstore in the world." How small is it? Oh, about the size of one of those boxes that fits on a porteur-style front rack.
Santini once operated one of the best-known independent bookstores in Milan, Italy. That is, until rent and management costs rose too high. So, five years ago, he started to operate without a storefront--and with a delivery bicycle. Customers place orders on his Facebook page, on Whatsapp or via e-mail, and he delivers, mainly in the southern districts of his city.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the pandemic has been good for his business. While he concedes that Amazon and other forms of e-commerce are convenient, he says "the physical presence of the bookseller who can advise and communicate with the customer" is "an added value" that "is disappearing" but "we must not lose."
In addition to being that bookseller we all love, he has another aspiration: "I want to be faster than Amazon."
