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

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

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

Yes, I forgot the coffee shop, but then I haven't gone for months. Tomorrow a friend from the next neighborhood over will go with me to a new bakery cafe that is midway between us. I hope I like it. I'd like to have a hangout. And the garden shop I go to most often is family owned, though they have two locations.

Also forgot the shoe repair shop. My husband gets little repairs to his athletic shoes and has had the man craft some simple straps for him. You should see this guy at work in his tiny shop at night with just one high intensity light on over his bench. Quaint as all get out! I can almost imagine the tiny elves scampering around to finish his work as he falls asleep with hammer in hand and shoenails at the ready in his lips. Hey, his shop is next door to Luigi the singing barber. My son goes to Luigi for a buzz cut about twice a year. Luigi sings decades old Italian pop songs and opera as he cuts. My husband gets one of those buzz cuts maybe once a year and he sings right along with Luigi if it is opera. (I wish I could be there.).... Sometimes the little places really do have character--- organic character, not stylish ambience concocted by interior designers and marketing specialists.

[tinapbeana]

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

oh, i forgot i go to a local stylist when i get my hair cut every year or two... he's a little pricey, but when you only go once every 50-100 weeks it's not a budget breaker

of course, if times are hard i can go to the stylist school half a mile a way. a wash and cut for $12 and they don't allow tips... woohoo! or my mom, who also cuts hair...

my favorite restaurant is a regional chain, but i'm gonna count it because i ate at their original location all the time when i was in college. now i've been to 3 locations in 3 states!

[Hez]

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

I often buy from a small bakery rather than purchase those items at the nearby chain grocery store.

I'll admit that I don't often go out of my way to support mom & pop stores, though.

[disneysteve]

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

I'll admit that I don't often go out of my way to support mom & pop stores, though.

Same here. I think this is largely due to location and convenience. The mom and pop stores tend to be scattered around town, maybe clustered on a main street/downtown area. Parking may be an issue. It is far easier to pull into a large parking lot and go to a store with one-stop shopping for a wide variety of items.

[Ima saver]

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

We eat every night at a mom and pop restaurant, I don't like chain restaurants either. We still have a 5 and 10 cent store downtown on the square.

[MarianneJ]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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

[disneysteve]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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...