Shoney’s is proof local businesses need support

The Standard office was bombarded by phone calls all day Monday. Residents throughout Warren County wanted to know what happened to Shoney’s.

Was the restaurant closed for remodeling? Are there plans to reopen it? Was Shoney’s really doing so badly it had to close?

While this newspaper doesn’t have all the answers, what we do know is Shoney’s shut down local operations Sunday afternoon and there are no plans to reopen. According to the local general manager, 45 to 50 people are out of jobs.

For a town that has lost Carrier and appears well on its way to losing A.O. Smith, the departure of Shoney’s is yet another punch to the midsection. A popular restaurant people have enjoyed patronizing for years is now a thing of the past, and about 50 jobs are gone with it.

It goes to show the words of economist Bill Fruth should be taken seriously. Fruth has made two presentations in McMinnville and claims Warren County should brace for a definite economic slump on the heels of losing Carrier. “If you should somehow manage to flatline until 2008,” Fruth said, “you should consider it a victory.”

Fruth’s advice, for the most part, has been mocked. People have complained he’s stating the obvious. Others have said we paid him too much.

Fruth, however, is delivering a message we don’t seem to grasp, even if we do say it’s obvious. We say we fully realize tough times are coming, then we’re shocked to lose Shoney’s.

When Fruth said Carrier’s departure will bring hardship to this community, the popular reaction was to shrug it off. After nearly two decades of economic prosperity, it’s easy to forget the mid-1980s when double-digit unemployment was an everyday reality.

But Shoney’s closure is yet another alarm to wake up this county to the troubles ahead. We have only started to wade into frigid financial times. The water is barely up to our ankles. We can only hope it doesn’t reach our neck.

If anything, the departure of Shoney’s shows how important it is to spend money locally. Most all of us ate at Shoney’s at one time or another, whether it was the breakfast bar after church on Sunday, or a full-course meal with the whole family on Friday night. It was nice to have Shoney’s as an option.

Now that option is gone.

If we want to continue to keep our options open, it’s appropriate for all of us to try McMinnville first when considering where to shop and eat. Sure it’s nice to jaunt off to Murfreesboro for a meal at Chili’s or to drive to Manchester for dinner at O’Charley’s.

But when we do that, we’re taking business away from local restaurants. And if enough people do that on a regular basis, we’ll have more restaurants going the way of Shoney’s.

Shopping at home is more than a nifty catchphrase. For local businesses, their livelihood is at stake, especially when consumer spending crawls along at a snail’s pace.

Warren County will persevere through these tough times. It’s been done before and it can be done again.

We should also remember each and every one of us is capable of easing the damage to local merchants. All it takes is the commitment to shop and spend money in Warren County. That alone won’t make all the pain go away, but it will be a promising start. And perhaps it will allow us to keep more of the restaurants where we enjoy eating and more of the stores where we enjoy shopping.