Article posted Wednesday, May 9, 2012 11:03am

Dear Mary Pat,

I come up to Door County several times a year with my friend who has a house in Sister Bay. We were up over the couple of days in April and the first couple in May. On more than one occasion, business owners were complaining about the economy, and it seemed like a lot of places were closed. Thankfully, there were some other places that were open, seemed busier and didn’t have any one complaining to us. When we’re here on vacation, we want to just unwind and have fun, not hear any doom and gloom. This seems to me to be a very bad topic to discuss with your customers. What do you think?

Signed,

Don’t Rain on my Parade

Mequon, WI

Dear Don’t Rain on my Parade,

I do agree that this is bad form. Speaking as a business owner myself (the etiquette gig is just one part of my varied business life), I wholeheartedly agree with you…customers don’t want to hear whining or how bad things are.

I’m also a big believer in things are what you make them. Granted, the nation’s economy took a big hit in October of 2008 (as in three and a half years ago) but a lot of business owners tightened up their operations, took a good look at what was needed and made adjustments accordingly. These are the people who are seeing their sales increase most likely.

Door County has a short season and is a challenging place to make a living; however, no one is going to get ahead by over sharing with customers. This is over simplifying things, and I’m not suggesting that people who are struggling have only themselves to blame. Anyone who has operated a small business knows how tough it can be. What I’m saying is that challenges are an opportunity to raise the stakes a little bit, make people less complacent and more competitive. And all of us will benefit from that.

Now as far as a lot of places seeming to be closed, that is probably due to the time of year you were here. Some businesses close for the winter and don’t reopen until May 1, or the first weekend in May or some of them wait until closer to Memorial Day. For the most part though, nearly everyone is open by Mother’s Day weekend. And if you see a lot of ‘For Sale’ signs, that is not necessarily a cause for alarm. A lot of business owners up here are close to retirement age and may be selling after 20 to 40 years in business. If you come back during our season, I’m sure you’ll get a more positive glimpse of our county.

I do hope that the next time you are here you’ll see some wonderful examples of thriving businesses, or better yet, that you enjoy your time so much here that you won’t be paying any attention to how things are behind the scenes. Door County is a beautiful area to visit, and also a pretty great place to call both home and workplace.

Good luck,

Mary Pat