Despite corporate America’s movement into the city, locals can still boast about their share of surviving locally-owned businesses.

Record Rev, 817 W. Lincoln Highway, has been in DeKalb for more than 30 years, and owner Mark Cerny has seen DeKalb develop through the years.

He said he has loyal customers who are true music-lovers and crave something different that a traditional chain store doesn’t usually stock.

“We have music that you would never find on the shelves of a Best Buy,” Cerny said. “We have a much larger selection than just your mainstream music, and we have a lot of very knowledgeable customers who listen to a wide variety.”

At least one customer agrees.

“Whatever you are looking for, they have it. They have all kinds of different music and it’s one of the only stores in this area that offers a different kind of music,” said Michele Tallon, a junior physical therapy major and life-long DeKalb area resident.

For Smoker’s World, 818 W. Lincoln Highway, Suite 4, it’s a similar story with regular customers, and many of the cigarettes are cheaper than gas-station chains.

“We try to make our tobacco products cheaper than anywhere else, and our customers save a lot of money shopping here instead of at a gas station. A pack of cigarettes runs around $5, and you can buy them here for $3.25,” owner Sue Mustafa said.

The city has chain stores popping up all over – a trend that isn’t tapering off.

“DeKalb is a very attractive place to do business, and people recognize that. In addition, it helps further diversify our local economy and it fosters business growth,” DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki said.

But the public transportation infrastructure is still a work in progress.

DeKalb’s City Development Director Paul Rasmussen recognizes that many students don’t have cars, and getting to these businesses is often difficult. A plan is in the works to get that problem sorted.

For Rasmussen, turning downtown into a place where students can hang out is a top priority.

“In order to make the downtown really attractive to students there would be a cluster of retail businesses that are typical of college towns, and we have all businesses in DeKalb that are college-town oriented, but they are scattered and not concentrated,” Rasmussen said. “We want businesses such as bookstores, pizzerias, bike shops, art galleries, record shops, ethnic restaurants, coffee shops and even venues featuring foreign films all available to students in the downtown area.”

Big companies such as Target and Best Buy may not add to DeKalb’s originality like an art gallery, but these types of companies have hundreds of employees, which creates booming business for other businesses, especially during eating hours.

As well, these sorts of businesses help keep DeKalb’s money in DeKalb. Known as “market leakage,” many residents used to take their shopping elsewhere.

“Five years ago we did an analysis on retail leakage and in certain categories the numbers were staggering,” Rasmussen said.

Where the average resident used to spend just $78 per year on clothing in DeKalb’s stores, they now spend $378.

“The leakage rate for apparel was 80 percent, and we found those numbers true in many areas.”

“The decision to put more corporate businesses in DeKalb was made based on our leakage rate. About 30 percent of the budget comes from sales tax.”