1.1 Research

After exploring each topic, I feel an interesting topic of research would be small businesses in Eugene. In the articles they talked about “mom and pop” business, which are small, family owned or independent businesses. They also go on to describe how small businesses tend to struggle because it is hard to compete with the large chain stores. While Eugene has its fair share of large chain stores, I believe they also have a good amount of family owned or independent businesses that locals are dedicated to supporting. One place I had always found particularly interesting was 13th Ave, between Agate and Kincaid, specifically the independently owned coffee shop Espresso Roma. Despite having a Starbucks located right next door, proud Hispanic Miguel Cortez has managed to keep his shop running for 23 years. Though Cortez is feeling successful, there is always a discomfort in being a small business in a pool of large franchises. I would be interested in exploring the different ethnic background of independently owned businesses (“mom and pop”) and the dynamic of sharing an environment with large chain stores on this block. While I’m not exactly sure how I would measure this I feel it would be appropriate to look into pricing, number of employees, number of customers, and ambiance.

Pedro Gutierrez is coming back to Espresso Roma from a 5 Minutes lunch break with his lunch from Caspian Mediterranean Café, which is in the same 13th avenue street. Picture taken at Noon, Saturday 17th, February 2018, at Espresso Roma, Eugene, OR.

Sources:

https://blogs.uoregon.edu/samandjuespage/text-story/