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In The News
Small business:
Mapping Michigan's Recovery
Lansing State Journal - September 2010
GRAND LEDGE - Carol Lamb knows she’s not changing the world.
She’s just doing what she can to improve her small part of it.
So every time someone comes into Lamb's Gate, the Grand Ledge antiques store she has owned for 10 years, she feels a pride of purpose. Her store brings people to town, she says, which helps other local businesses. And every dollar spent
locally helps another family.
"We have 10 people who sell their antiques here," she says. "It's so important that people shop locally and support their local economies.”
Maybe her store alone doesn’t weigh much in the larger scale of Michigan politics and economic policy.
But that's precisely what she wants the next governor to know: Size doesn’t matter when every small business counts.
Not just because they contribute money to the economy, but also because they create a sense of place, she says.
“When you have a local grocer and a local coffee shop, it creates a sense of community that lasts,” Lamb says. “I go to farmers markets and shop at local stores. When I go in, I always look for at least something small to buy, even if it’s just a bar of soap, because I know how hard it is.”
Lamb and her family have been fortunate. The economic crisis hasn’t touched them the way it has thousands of other families.
Her husband of 37 years, Tom, has a stable job with Consumer’s Energy. They’ve always been frugal. Their two grown kids are well-educated with solid jobs of their own.
And at a time when other businesses have closed, Lamb was able to expand into a second storefront in Lansing’s Old Town.
Her daughter-in-law, Ashley, runs that store.
Yet she still feels the crunch of the economy in her sales numbers and when her accountant calls.
“Every month he tells me I need to have so much saved (for taxes), and every month I think, ‘Geez, are you kidding?’” Lamb says. “It’s high. People aren’t spending as much, because when they’re fearful, they hang on to their money.”
Ashley — a new mom at 26 — says they’re not anti-tax. Not like some people are. But nor do they have endlessly deep pockets.
“We’re happy to pay our taxes, because the world cannot survive without them,” Ashley says. “But they are very high. And there are so many barriers to entering into a new business. It costs so much to start, and it’s hard to get a loan.”
And unless that changes, they fear that the state will continue to struggle to attract new businesses and expand existing ones.
Small-business owner: Carol Lamb stands near westbound M-43 in Grand Ledge. Lamb, the owner of an antiques shop, believes size doesn’t matter — every small business helps the state’s economy. (Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal)
Carol Lamb
Owner, Lambs’ Gate Interiors & Antiques in Grand Ledge
Age: 54
Politics: Independent
Voting for:Undecided
What she wants the next governor to do: Create programs to promote small-business creation and encourage people to shop locally.
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