"The Little Man"

As I spent some time this weekend getting prepared for Halloween, I had a great breakfast at the Sonoma Chicken Coop in Campbell, Calif.. It is technically a chain, but there are only two here in San Francisco Bay Area. It was a great place to watch the Raiders beat Tennessee.

I was walking downtown in Campbell among the local businesses at the farmers market, and saw quite a few great local merchants, like GrendelSweets. Campbell has done a great job of protecting a real downtown area in the middle of one of the largest metro areas in the country. Reminds me a lot of the Alan Jackson sound on the little man. One of the lines goes something like this...

Now the court square's just a set of streets

That the people go round but they seldom think


Bout the little man that built this town

Before the big money shut em down

And killed the little man

Oh the little man

You just have to wonder what happens if small merchants don't find ways to innovate and take on the big box stores out there, leaving the local streets with none of the businesses built by the little man.