I grew up behind the counter of a convenience store.

My dad owned his own business from the time I was 3 until I was 17. He primarily sold gas and quick food items, but did his fair share of Ole Miss souvenir sales.

He had two employees, if you count my mother, and he worked extreme hours.

He opened up most days before I got out of bed. The other employee closed up shop around 11 p.m. it seems. The store was open six days a week for many years, but, if memory serves, there was a stint where it opened on Sundays, too.

I spent afternoons after school and summers at the store, where my dad was behind the register and my mom was in the kitchen.

And I knew, if we wanted to make money, we had to be open.

My dad couldn’t run out to grab lunch, or even to pick me up from school unless his other employee could come in early.

Customers don’t bring their money to closed stores, that’s a basic rule of business.

Perhaps it’s my background in family business that makes me so easily agitated when I pull up to one of our downtown shops to see “Out to lunch, back in a bit” taped to the door.

Stores in the Miss-Lou have been unknowingly turning away my money for several weeks now.

I’m preparing for a wedding, and I’ve tried to do my shopping locally. I need gifts for the wedding party, ceremony details and the like. And I would prefer to spend my money in either Natchez or Vidalia.

But time after time, I’ve parked my car, turned it off, walked around to a shop and been greeted only by a “closed” sign. I, like many shoppers, need to do much of my shopping around lunchtime. That’s my lunch break, and I need to be at the office the rest of the day.

But, it seems shop owners in Natchez and Vidalia like to take lunch at the same time as the rest of us.

It’s difficult to run your own business. My father will tell you that. Often you can’t afford to hire extra help. And if you can afford them, you can’t find good workers.

But closed businesses don’t make money.

Customers will tire of driving up to closed shops and opt to take their money elsewhere if doors aren’t open.

It’s one thing for one shop owner to lose money while they are closed, but it’s another for our local residents and tourists to become frustrated with the “be right back” signs.

A collective frustration will have bad results for all of downtown, all of Natchez and the entire Miss-Lou economy.

Many local residents already do their shopping at large chain stores or out-of-town for convenience.

With high gas prices and economic woes, it’s time to bring those folks home again. But it will take creative marketing, clever ideas and a business partnership to do it.

Natchez has an active Downtown Development Association that has done great things in recent months. Maybe this group could spearhead a movement to make downtown shopping more user-friendly.

Brainstorming is the first task at hand, but maybe ultimately businesses could work together to avoid all unnecessary “back in a bit” signs.

Could one shop employee step inside their neighbor’s shop to watch things for a minute? Could NDDA help businesses recruit good employees and offer a free training program?

The ideas are endless but the need is urgent.

If our shops don’t want the money, shoppers will spend it elsewhere.

Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.