I almost ready to open a small general store and I have been going back and forth with myself on rather its of more importance to make the store exclusively for Bitcoin, include the local currency as well as BTC, or if it makes a difference one way or other? Thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions?
In my view, it won't be harmful for bitcoin, as it provides more buisness for bitcoin, even marginally, but it will be harmful for the seller, as he will find trouble finding someone with bitcoin/wanting to spend their bitcoin
Virtually all merchants who accept bitcoin immediately convert to fiat through a payment processor, so they're never actually receiving the bitcoin, just offering it as a payment option.
This is true, but in the case of OP, the question is whether or not to only offer BTC as a payment method. In this case, it is unlikely that the store owner is going to convert their BTC to a local currency right away, since they would also accept said local currency in addition to Bitcoin.
Either way, in this case, it certainly is harmful. Bitcoin users are an extremely small minority, and I highly doubt that any mainstream business could survive through exclusive acceptance of Bitcoin.
Ah, good point. I can't imagine anyone being able to run a physical storefront accepting only bitcoin either. Even a virtual store space would be difficult to run on only bitcoin. It would be a fine compliment, but I agree with you.