Vendor Story: A. Allen

First of all, I had to change locations because the people I was catering to at Chicago and Franklin were working people on their way downtown in the morning. Since COVID, they started working from home and my traffic dropped tremendously.

Another vendor recommended two locations: the Starbucks drive-through at Clark and Ridge and then for the evening, Mariano’s at Foster and Sheridan. I had to get two locations to come up to the standard of the one that I had. Both of them are in residential areas.

After relocating, I had to build both locations up where customers got to know me on a personal level. Now I am starting to settle in where I feel comfortable with my customers and where my customers feel comfortable with me. They have been reading the articles I wrote and they are feeling close to me and how I feel about certain situations. There is a bond I am establishing with them through conversations, through just being at my location in general.

Some of my old customers are keeping in contact through Venmo or are taking electronic subscriptions. I have most of their numbers and I thank them via text.

Since COVID I have noticed that people are not quite back to normal yet. They don’t want to take the paper maybe because of COVID but they’re being generous with giving the money. I have to use a little persuasion to get them to take the paper and I do that by saying I have an article in it.

The winter was kinda mild so it didn’t really affect sales except for snow - if people didn’t shovel their sidewalks. That created a problem for the foot traffic, not the drive-through traffic. That’s why the Starbucks helped me out. But now that the snow is gone, things are coming back to normal.

Personally, I would like to thank all my old and new customers for giving me the opportunity to become their vendor, and all customers who keep us employed. StreetWise is still effective with a hand up and not a hand out. People are still responding.