Whether you live in Erie or you’re a student from out of town, it’s likely that you’ve visited a restaurant or even taken advantage of the recent snow dump and hit the slopes at Peek’n Peak. Erie has quite a lot to offer in terms of entertainment as tourism is a massive contributor to a successful economy here. There are so many choices when it comes to spending your money but you may be surprised to learn that it could all be going back to a single company, Scott Enterprises.

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The Scott family owns and runs the hospitality company Scott Enterprises, which owns a significant amount of businesses in the Erie area. Primarily, they run a number of hotels and a handful of restaurants. Some of the top attractions in Erie including Splash Lagoon and Peek’n Peak are operated by Scott Enterprises, so it’s clear that they are doing fairly well. Although, a business with so much power causes concern for some as they believe that a large enough corporation eventually gains too much influence and begins hurting the small, locally owned businesses and the local population.

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The primary concern for small business owners is competition. To remain profitable a company must be seen as better than their competition either through higher quality or lower prices. In the case of a large corporation versus a small business, the typical concern is pricing. It is not a level playing field when a company owns their means of production and has the ability to out price the competition.

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For example, Walmart has been criticized for driving locally owned businesses in small towns out of business by decreasing prices on goods to the point where no small business can compare. Large box stores have the ability to take that small loss because a major corporation can make up for it in other sectors. A smaller business might take that loss to remain competitive, but such a hit could destroy their business. This isn’t necessarily unethical because increasing competition is vital to maintain a free market economy. Everyone has the chance to succeed as its said, but there comes a tipping point where some people have so much power that it becomes nearly impossible for new businesses to succeed. This is the problem that some Erie residents have with Scott Enterprises.

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The Scotts cannot be blamed for being a successful family. It is unfair to claim that just because you see success, that it was taken and not earned. Everyone strives to be successful, but you cannot blame shortcomings on those who achieve it. It seems that there are a few grievances however, about Scott Enterprises’ business practices. One of which was repeated by numerous alleged employees of the many business owned by Scott Enterprises. This is the lack of ability to advance, or a lack of career opportunities. A few employees claimed that these businesses would only keep workers for a few years and then clear large portions of the staff to bring in new or younger workers at minimum wage to keep costs down. Others are simply upset that the majority of positions within Scott Enterprises are minimum wage while the owners and operators obviously make far more. It becomes a concern when Erie citizens in general begin to have financial struggles and the hiring businesses all offer the minimum, as it clearly isn’t a livable wage. Though these concerns have been voiced, there truly is not much to be done.

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As stated, you cannot blame a successful business for essentially “winning” over other businesses. Unless their practices are illegal, there is really nothing to do. The real concern should not be one large corporation unless the barriers to entry that they create in a market are so extreme that no new businesses will be started and the town will become monopolized. If Scott Enterprises were to start buying up every restaurant in town and pushing out anything new that they do not want, there is no real trouble. Employees with legitimate legal concerns of their workplace should always take it up with the appropriate authorities and if a job doesn’t pay you enough or you don’t get a promotion, it’s your responsibility to take that risk and move on to something that is better for you. It is entirely the responsibility of the worker to succeed and Scott Enterprises has done a fine job of that.