The shop on the corner

I used to regularly buy a few magazines and when I was in college I bought them from a particular newsagent - a small shop run by a bloke called Jerry. This shop didn’t have the widest selection in the world but it did have Edge, in addition to something else: a personal relationship with the owner.

I would go in and know that a copy of the magazine I wanted was already put aside for me. I’d stick around for a moment and have a chat. He’d ask after my mum, who also went there to buy a newspaper. On many occasions I would find myself in the W.H. Smiths on the other side of the town square and notice that the new issue was on the shelf. I’d leave the shop and walk across the square because my magazine-buying money was for Jerry.

I wonder to myself as my own project develops in my mind: can that kind of relationship with your users be cultivated in a website? Is the playing field *really* leveled for the little guy on the Internet? I’ve neither the resources nor the desire to achieve Global Mega Corp Inc status, but I suspect there are more rewarding ways than that.

I’ve got some ideas up my sleeve.

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