Large corperations vs small businesses

By: Alessia Korvessis ~ News Reporting

The college town Bloomington, Indiana is littered with chain establishments such as Starbucks, Five Guys, Canes, and Urban Outfitters. But a beacon of small, local businesses stand out through these stores.

Bloomington is a small college town in Indiana, known for its stores and well kept campus. Its streets are lined with a mix of small businesses and chain stores, offering a large selection of shopping choices.

There are many small, private owned shops there. But, the number of small businesses has been dwindling. Cafe Pizzaria, the oldest pizza shop in this area, recently closed. The space is being sold for $4.5 million, a price most small businesses won’t be able to afford.

“Me and my mom used to go there all the time.” Said senior Ayla Lyons, an Indiana local. “I had so many birthday parties there as a kid, so I was so sad to see that it closed.”

Javin Hernandez, a resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, also likes to support small businesses.

“Basically everyone in our town is a big fan of Mocha Lounge, which is a small coffee shop.” Said Hernandez.

He also mentioned how large coffee shops such as Starbucks are beginning to be more prominent in most communities, therefore replacing small coffee shops. This has become the case with many other businesses due to the fact that most chain places are more well known.

A soon to be freshman at Indiana University, Keso Sahadewan, talked about how this issue affects his town.

“In my downtown there’s a small business cupcake place that just shut down, my friend worked there and a corporate food place is taking it over.”

Bloomingons economy continues to expand, with GDP growth anticipated to reach 3.1% in 2025. However, this may cause it to lose some of its small businesses, which could cause less tourists to come in.