Root Magazine Small Business Story: Market on Main

Small businesses are truly the backbone of our economy and having Market on Main in Racine County, WI is what the community needed in the middle of a global pandemic. Racine is known as a “food desert”, and this actively demonstrates that there were not many convenience stores around the city. “Downtown Racine is considered a food desert, and I’ve never heard that before in my life… there’s nowhere in this area, probably a 1 to 2 mile square radius for people to get the staple items like your bread, milk, and things of that nature.” With that said, Tywon Davidson capitalized on the opportunity and decided to open up Market on Main in the downtown of Racine. Market on Main provides everyday items such as groceries, snack foods, soft drinks, fresh deli sandwiches, and cleaning supplies, and much more to the residents.

As far as his educational background goes, Davidson graduated from Washington Park High School and later decided to continue his education and went to a community college and earned his first associate degree from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After graduating from college, he went to work as anyone expected to do, but he quickly realized that one associate degree was not good enough to be financially stable. Soon after, he went back to school and earned his second associate degree in Information Technology, also known as IT. Davidson worked at Apple Care for a few years before he transitioned to another job.

While working at Harley-Davidson as an IT consultant, Davidson got laid off from his job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Davidson mentioned, “I ended up getting a job for Harley Davidson like 6 or 7 years ago through an IT consulting firm by the name of Infosys. I’m currently with them but kind of like laid off, if that’s what you want to call it.” Davidson did not want to waste a single minute and decided to start his own business in November 2020 with Darius Nunn, who is a co-owner of Market on Main. Davidson also talked about how he and Nunn always wanted to run their own business. As anyone would have expected when starting a new business, they have had their ups and downs along the way. According to Davidson, COVID-19 slowed down their opening process as they had a hard time getting both their building and health inspections.

When asked what it is like to run his own business, he simply replied, “It is gratifying.” because he dreamed of having his own business when he was a young kid.

The biggest challenge they encountered was having construction issues in the basement. Due to COVID-19, they mainly struggled to find someone who can take a look and fix the problem. “I would say COVID-19 is probably half of the reason why we are not doing as well as we could. It is not bad, but it most definitely can get better,” said Davidson. To overcome COVID-19 challenges, Davidson and his friend tried to double their effort to promote their business on social media like Facebook and thinking about partnering with DoorDash and Grubhub to gain more customers.

While talking about the pros and cons of running this type of business, Davidson mentioned that the feeling of him being his own boss and making his own schedule is something he is grateful for while also acknowledging all the responsibilities that come with this type of role. “The pros, I would say, is just the feeling of having my own business, setting my own hours, and being my own boss. The cons are if I am not bringing enough money to survive, then I have to find something else,” said Davidson.

In the next ten years, Davidson wants his business to grow by expanding the store hours, possibly opening 24/7, and hopefully securing liquor licenses for the place. “In the next ten years, I would like to see my business being open ten to twelve hours a day if not twenty-four hours, having my liquor licenses, and turning the back stockroom into a kitchen so I can serve some hot food,” said Davidson.

When asked what advice you would give to someone thinking of starting their own business, he replies, “Just do it and do not think twice about it. If you got your plan to follow your plan, and if you do not have a plan make a plan because the longer you wait, the longer before you do it”. That was a piece of classic and thoughtful advice to some who want to get into the business world. It is safe to say that Davidson was determined and exemplifies what it is like to have the courage to help someone’s community by establishing a convenience store in his hometown.

Link to the interview video down below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15SmfZP2WapJ7gNSfa-lX5E4x-o39qDha/view?usp=sharing