A business just doesn't fail for any one reason; it takes several negative factors for it to fall apart and eventually close.

We tried every attempt to stay open, but came to realize it's not just the economy, but also a lack of support.

We started out great in the first three months but this year it fell apart and we never seemed to recover.

The town of Wendell doesn't promote its merchants enough to bring in new businesses like other towns do.

The Wendell Chamber of Commerce is an organization made up of businesses that pay annual dues and in return are supposed to receive help from the chamber through business resources to help our business succeed.

Eventually there was no support for our businesses at all, not even a look.

Sure, they gave us an award at their annual chamber dinner, but that's only after four weeks of being open and what good is an award, if they don't patronize our business?

On a good note, we invited Gov. Bev Perdue to our grand opening last November.

She declined, due to a previous engagement, but the governor sent us a letter, congratulating us on opening a new business.

In her letter she wrote, "Small businesses are the backbone of every community."

We were thrilled and honored to receive this letter from the governor.

But sadly, we now have to send her a copy of this letter to the editor, to inform her as to why we had to close our doors.

We've learned a lot from this failed venture. We did a lot of research about this type of business, the need and product choices. Going forward, we'll be more cautious.

The town of Wendell and the Wendell Chamber of Commerce need to get on the same page going forward.

Otherwise there my be no future for Wendell.

Brian Tucker

Wendell