Transforming Cities and Minds through the Scholarship of Engagement: Economy, Equity, and Environment

1. Strengthening Small Businesses: Strategies for Makin' a Way Where There Is No Way in Camden, New Jersey

29 1 Strengthening Small Businesses Strategies for Makin’ a Way Where There Is No Way in Camden, New Jersey Gayle Christiansen “We Invest in Our Own” Dominican and Puerto Rican music pours out the doors of the Caribbean Mega Center, a small electronics store in Camden, New Jersey—a city known for its entrenched poverty, crime, and failing schools. The storefront lights and awning portray a brightly painted beach. José Marrera , the store’s owner, describes his place as a little Best Buy. Everything you can get in there we’ve got: radios, computers, cell phones, video games. We deal with DJ equipment, car equipment, DVDs, music, video systems, everything at once. People come here because it is cheaper and it saves you time. We’ve been here for eighteen years. Eighteen years serving the community. But why is he in Camden? Why not a more affluent city with a better reputation, where doing business might be easier? José insists, We’re from Camden . . . raised in Camden. We still live here.That is why the store is here. We love our city. It’s not bad here. People think Camden is the worst city anywhere. People have to come here and see for themselves that we aren’t bad people. We are good people. We work hard. I think we are friendly with everybody and when you are friendly, people like you. When everyone is nice to each other, you don’t have a problem. Camden is not what people think.There is a great opportunity here. 30 Transforming Cities and Minds through the Scholarship of Engagement Though business is slower for the Caribbean Mega Center thanks to the recession, José has a track record of success and remains hopeful for the future. He does, however, question the city’s economic development strategy. He explains, They build stuff around the nice parts.They invest in the good, not the bad. If they never invest in the bad, it will stay bad. We invest in our own. We’re about to open another store that was abandoned. We bought it, and now we are fixing it to make the street look better. It will be a fruit and vegetable shop, like a little market, Jumbo’s Fruit and Vegetables. It is going to be another business coming to the area. (Marrera 2010) José’s entrepreneurial knowledge and his understanding of this East Camden neighborhood raise several questions. Are there other smallbusiness owners with the same determination who care as much as José about the city? And, if so, why does José feel like the city supports only the “nice parts” of town, instead of helping people like him? Would investing in small businesses improve the economy and civic life of the city? In this chapter, I present a narrative of Camden’s dominance and decline, how it tried to turn itself around and why it failed. I argue for a storefront in addition to a waterfront strategy by showing how Camden ’s small businesses have survived despite the obstacles they encounter . Lastly, I present a set of strategies for unleashing the power of small businesses in Camden and other American cities. Camden’s Dominance and Decline Camden, New Jersey, was once home to many entrepreneurs and innovators . Jersey tomatoes helped the Campbell Soup Company grow to international fame. New York Shipbuilding Corporation built some of the largest World War I battleships in Camden. RCA, Radio Corporation of America, led the world in the manufacture of “talking machines,” and its technology later allowed people to hear the first words uttered from the moon. Both the iconic poet Walt Whitman and the first drivein movie theater called Camden home.The city’s vibrant, ethnically centered , commercial corridors of Broadway, Kaighn, and Haddon Avenues boasted “movie theaters, real estate operations, doctors, dentists, and law- Strengthening Small Businesses 31 yers mixed with a host of commercial and retail services” (Gillette 2005, 22). Local family businesses thrived during World War I and the Great Depression as they met the needs of their neighbors (Gillette 2005). Then came industrial decline, white flight, the building of the Cherry Hill mall, the 1971 riots, and various attempts at urban renewal—all of which left Camden, like small postindustrial cities across the country, in a state of decline. In 1973, Mayor Angelo Errichetti explained, “The years of neglect, slumlord exploitation, tenant abuse, government bungling , indecision and short-sighted...