Mom & Pop stores.... what ones do you patron?

[MarianneJ]

No one mentioned a bookstore (although I may have missed it). The bookstore in our local mall is locally owned by a family my sis went to school with. It has been there for as long as I can remember and I always shop there. I like shopping at stores where I know the owners. It is a nice feeling thinking that you are helping out your neighbors.

The death of the locally owned/operated pharmacy is very sad. I think this is something that never should have happened.

[sarah]

I am as conflicted about mom and pop stores as I am about wal-mart, if for different reasons. Mom and Pop stores are often owned by people who live outside the local neighborhood and who will not hire local community residents. There is often tensioon between neighbors and mom and pop stores. These stores have higher prices some justified by volume and some not. In many of our cities race often becomes a factor making this a complicated mess. Andrew Young was not completely wrong in his defense of wal-mart and his condemnation of mon and pop's, nor was he completely right. I am just plain confused about this whole retail issue. I also seem to become even more confused the longer I study it.

[rob62521]

We try to frequent many locally owned and run businesses. Each Saturday we eat lunch at a tea room that is run by a family. The food and service are great and the prices aren't bad. My husband buys his prescriptions from a mom and pop pharmacy. I would too, except my insurance plan won't let me. We buy our meat from one of those small neighborhood stores -- it's not that much more expensive and they package it the way you want it, plus the meat is great -- haven' t had a bad piece yet!

[cicy33]

I do both. I have a local owned and operated pharmacy that is in my small town. I could use cvs or walmart but the pharmacist is so nice and once when my dog ate my dh blood pressure med he not only advised me of what to do for the dog but he also gave us some pills to get us thru till we could get to the doctor. ( on a side note, I tried to call an emergency poison line for pets and they said that I had to pay money to get their advice!) My pharmacist will also open back up if someone is in dire need. However, on the flip side it has been my experience that most local shops are closed very early, don't open on saturday or sunday, or they close by noon on saturday. Well, lets see I work all week, I would like to not have to jump up and hurry my saturday morning, and I have to shop somewhere! So I shop at walmart and kroger for the other stuff. I am willing to shop at local owned shops if they are willing to work with their customers. Our local grocery store is so over priced it is ridiculous. I only go there if I am desperate.

[cicy33]

Oh, I should mention, my pharmacist stays open till 5:30 p.m. during the week. Which is fairly reasonable to me

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cicy33

it has been my experience that most local shops are closed very early, don't open on saturday or sunday, or they close by noon on saturday.

This is a good point, unfortunately. There is a town nearby that about 8-10 years ago, had a downtown/main street district that had gotten pretty run down. Over a fairly short period of a few years, several excellent restaurants moved into town and staged a remarkable dining revival. Offhand, I can think of at least 10 very popular (and some quite pricey) restaurants on that strip now.

The rest of the strip is mostly mom and pop stores - a used bookstore, a health food store, a coffee shop, a couple of eclectic gift shops, etc. A while ago, there was an article in the local paper that the merchants were upset that the restaurants have brought so many new customers to the area, but the shops aren't seeing any benefit from that. Duh! The shops all close at 5 or 6pm, which is when the restaurant crowd is just getting started. More than once, we've gone to dinner there and arrived a little early. While waiting for another couple to arrive, we strolled up and down the street, only to find all the shops closed. It would be nice if the shops were open until 9pm. We could either arrive a bit earlier and browse before dinner, or even do some shopping after dinner.

[rob62521]

Good point, disneysteve. Maybe you could write a letter to the editor of your paper suggesting that since the area has had a revival and suggest you would like to browse before or after you meal. Perhaps the shop owners would think that's a great idea as well.

[kealina]

oops... i forgot about locally owned places we frequent... when i was listing the mom and pop i was actually thinking about the places we go where you actually meet the owners because they are the ones working in the store...
i'm sure we've been to several locally owned places, especially restaurants...