By Kelly Dereuck
Missouri Business Alert, Oct 25, 2024
As a small business owner, Joe Chevalier believes in passing along the profits he earns to his staff in the form of higher wages. Employees at his store, Yellow Dog Bookshop in downtown Columbia, make more than the current state minimum wage of $12.30 an hour, and Chevalier feels that has helped with employee retention.
“It's good to have a staff that's going to stay with you, and if they're paid more, then they're more likely to stay there,” Chevalier said. “You're not going to have to train new people, and the people you have will have that extra experience and will be better for you." ...
Bookstores often operate on thin profit margins, but this doesn’t dissuade Chevalier from supporting a proposition that would raise the minimum wage in Missouri to $15 an hour.
“We do have a fairly small profit margin in bookselling. It's not something you go into to make a million,” Chevalier said. “But as our sales have done better, we've always shared that with our staff.”
Chevalier believes raising the minimum wage would give affected workers more disposable income, which could potentially be spent at local small businesses like his ....
While some businesses may respond to a minimum wage increase with a hike in prices, Chevalier, the Columbia bookstore owner, doesn’t anticipate this happening at his business. Sales at Yellow Dog Bookstore have been good this year, and Chevalier doesn’t believe in keeping a disproportionate share of the profits.
“I think if people look at it as I do, which is, ‘Let's share our success with our employees first,’ then I would hope that it won't be a problem,” Chevalier said.