Lori Webster has been feeling the love recently. Small business love, that is. She’s been telling the customers of her family-owned stationery store about the 3/50 Project, one of many campaigns to support local small businesses.
Then last week, Tom Hanks walked into Webster’s Fine Stationers in Altadena, Calif. — about 20 miles from Hollywood. Celebrities aren’t unheard-of in the store: The actor John C. Reilly lives in the neighborhood and drops by occasionally.
But Hanks, who was filming on location across the street, went out of his way to talk up small business. “He told us how nice it is to shop at a family-owned business and how he particularly liked family-owned stationery stores,” Webster says. Along with extolling the virtues of small business, and disparaging their big-box competitors, Hanks asked about Webster’s history, posed for pictures, lamented the closing of the family’s card store nearby, and bought $120 worth of pens, notebooks, and puzzle books.
Hanks’ goodwill fits with a larger trend that has strengthened during the recession: As public anger smolders against banks, financial institutions, and large corporations like BP, small business owners have emerged as American heroes.
Ninety-Five Percent Positive Rating
A February Gallup poll that tested Americans’ reactions to seven terms, including “capitalism” and “socialism,” found that “small business” got the best reaction, with a 95 percent positive rating across the political spectrum.
In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, small business owners got better ratings than any other institution the survey asked about, including churches, colleges, and the news media. The results this year build upon similar results in the recent past.
But do all these warm and fuzzy sentiments translate into a bottom-line boost for American entrepreneurs? That’s a tough thing to measure, but there is some evidence they might.
In a survey released last month by WebVisible, an…