Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Not only do they provide crucial financial services to each city they populate, but they also add character to a community and honor the traditions of those who came before them. In Grand Rapids, the amount of small businesses is substantial. From family-owned establishments that date back decades to newly flourishing cafes and gift shops, the selection of small businesses in Grand Rapids is diverse.
One of these faithful stores is Decker and Sons, located near Downtown Grand Rapids on Fuller Avenue. Decker and Sons is a decades-old appliance store dedicated to their customer service and stock quality. Beginning from humble origins, the store’s founder, Martin Decker, founded the business in 1943 after selling coal and hay for a living. Wanting to change his lifestyle, he decided to create a store to service the people around him.
Fast forward 91 years and Deckers has preserved the same core value: helping the community while maintaining honesty and integrity. Current employee, Dave Decker Jr., has been working at the store for 15 years and has never wavered in his certainty that Deckers’ is a central part of Grand Rapids.
“I think we’ve been around long enough [to be a part of the Grand Rapids community] and there’s a lot of people that come in,” Decker said. “I can’t imagine that there are too many companies that are above 90 years old in Grand Rapids. I think that’s why we’ve been able to stay so long—because of the people we’ve serviced.”
This sentiment is echoed in small businesses across the country and even worldwide. The customers that visit and support each store keep it standing, from a financial and communal perspective. The money that is saved in these institutions is money that is redistributed back to the locals and their endeavors as well.
These businesses display the importance of giving back to the city and ensuring that the hard work that civilians put into their businesses doesn’t go to waste. Instead of being funneled to a billion-dollar company’s main headquarters, it’s kept within a family.
Dave Decker Sr., co-owner of Decker and Sons, believes this is an aspect of small businesses that general chain stores, such as Lowe’s or Costco, cannot replicate.
“This country was built by small mom-and-pop stores, whether they have a jewelry store or a car dealership or something [else],” Decker said. “There they are, supporting local businesses. Everything that comes in gets distributed in Grand Rapids or West Michigan, or wherever this store may be. It really doesn’t make any difference. It’s supporting a local community with advertising, with little league teams, with dance teams, or whatever it might be. All this money that people have entrusted to us for a new refrigerator or washing machine stays here, and so it helps the locals and doesn’t get sent abroad or to a big city.”
As the years have passed, Decker and Sons has continued to differentiate itself from box stores by leading a company of care and compassion. By being a purely family-owned business, Deckers’ is pleased to provide service that others are unlikely to comply with. For example, deliveries and repairs are provided with an extra fee for any appliance, with repairs having no time limit. Deckers guarantees a friendly experience for the consumer with each delivery/repair completed to the best of the company’s ability.
Additionally, customers receive kind guidance toward finding the best appliance to fit their needs, whether it be a single dishwasher for a home to a bulk order for an apartment complex. Co-owner Scott Ohlman—grandson of Martin Decker—who’s been working at Deckers for 35 years now, finds that customers tend to return to the company due to the excellent service and the positive atmosphere facilitated within the complex.
“[What differs us] would be knowledge of products, giving customers proper guidance and advice for making an educated decision that suits what they’re looking for, and also providing after-the-sale support,” Ohlman said. “If someone were to call or email the store, we would touch base [with them] and help as well.”
As small businesses have grown in abundance, a misconception has been making its rounds: buying at chain stores is cheaper than purchasing with a local emporium.
In some cases, this claim can be true. Generally, lower-value goods, such as books, tend to be more expensive at a local retailer than at Barnes & Noble. However, with a higher-value item that is normally priced in the thousands, both local stores and box businesses usually waver around the same original price.
“I run into this regularly with customers,” Ohlman said. “They’ll say, ‘I’d like to buy local instead of going to a box store. You know, I may have to spend a little bit more, but I want to support local shops.’ Then I say, ‘That’s actually the biggest myth out there—that buying at those stores is cheaper because it absolutely is not.”
Along with the factor of supporting residents, small businesses are more likely to be short-staffed, due to national unemployment rates gradually rising and the residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic still in America’s wake.
Due to this tribulation, each employee in a small business is taught to “wear many hats.” Although each person has their specific responsibilities, everyone also partakes in tasks of different wavelengths, from paperwork to assisting customers to working in the warehouse. In comparison, workers at large grocery stores may only ever work as a cashier, but in a small business, time is of the essence. This is a lesson that Dave Decker Jr. has acquired after many years of expertise in the appliance industry.
“Everyone seems to do everything here,” Decker said. “Even the owners, like Scott, sometimes do deliveries. You learn a lot of different things because it’s very rare that someone will only ever have one job. That’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned.”
Beyond the appliances, the deliveries/repairs, and the tedious paperwork that goes into running a business, everyone at Decker and Sons strives to meet one common goal: aiding the people of West Michigan.
Connecting with new people and helping them achieve their goals is the most important duty for any small business, and it’s not one that Deckers takes lightly. With a certain type of dependability comes a level of trust between the consumer and the employee; a level of trust that Deckers promises to uphold for as long the business stays standing.
“I love to just strike up a conversation with people,” Decker Sr. said. “It’s enjoyable to have success when somebody has got a problem—in our case, with appliances. There’s satisfaction involved in helping other people, and it is certainly a joy for me to talk to people I don’t know. That’s wonderful.”