I went to Jamaica Plain, which is near Showa Boston, as a class trip on February 23th, and we learned about small businesses there from the organizer of the area. She talked about their efforts to improve their shops and environment. The site is also diverse, so we can see various cultural shops.
As the Jamaica Plain is not located in urban areas, they strongly connect with the neighborhood and encourage each other. For example, cafes and grocery stores make products by using local ingredients, such as chocolate, flour, and vegetables, rather than importing staff from other areas. Thus, these stores are helpful to maintain the local businesses and strengthen their relationship. In addition, there is a community refrigerator in which local people can donate food that they do not need anymore, and other people who suffer from reaching food can get that, so this system can reduce hunger.
I also went to toy shops called Boing! They sell all toys from US companies, so it helps the country’s toy businesses. Furthermore, educational toys are displayed in the store, and I also found the poster that is written about two children’s names. If the customer visits the shop in the day and has the name, they can get the toys for free, so I felt this shop tries to get more customers by the poster.
After the organizer’s talks, I could ask her about the difficulties in organizing small businesses. She answered most shops there are run by few people, so working themselves is difficult, and she added starting a new business is hard because it needs local people’s good reputation and trust.
I recommend Jamaica Plain to Showa students who are interested in organic and healthy food because many shops have products by making of local ingredients, and also staff there is kind to anyone even who cannot speak English since various types of people live in the area.
Reira Kataoka