# Mom and Pop shops...



## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

...now, I've never been the biggest fan of "mom and pop" shops...usually the places are only open between the hours of noon and 3 PM, when you go in, the people are rude to you, and the prices are almost always higher...but recently when I was down south, I stopped at a little "urban gear" shop in Westlake Villiage...I was on my way to Orange County, so this was just going to be a quick little stop, but of course the place wasnt open when they said it would be, so I went and sat with a nice green tea at the Bad Ass coffee shop down the way (it's so nice to see that they're expanding)...anyway, when I finished my tea and went back, the shop was open, the guy working there was so friendly and helpful that it basically re-affirmed my faith in independant businesses...I only bought one $60 t-shirt but, he must have taken 40 minutes just chatting with me about several different things from the local shops that I frequent up here in the Bay Area, to the local artists whos work was on display in the shop. It was just so refreshing to walk into a mom and pop shop and not see a stressed out middle aged guy at the counter taking out his frusteration with the fact that he's not a good businessman on the customers all the while watching you like a hawk (because you know...****** steal), or his overweight bearded hag of a wife ignoring you so that she can help her buddies who don't pay for anything anyway...then on my way home I stopped in Solvang for some æbleskivers only to encounter the very kind of mom and pop shop that made me hate these kinds of businesses to begin with...and that's when it hit me...people complain about how the giants are killing independant business...but honestly, I think independant business is killing independant business...I think that a place like Tradition (the urban gear store I visited) will not only survive but expand because they build loyalty, nobody would choose to buy their gear at Macy*s or from some catalog if they had a place like this available to them, if I lived down there I'd be in buying something every week, but I know for a fact that every time I'm in the area from here on out, I'll be stopping in there to buy something...It's about customer service, I think that places like WalMart and Starbucks have become scapegoats for the fact that most mom and pop stores are run by lazy inept people who have no business owning a business to begin with...


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

Depends where you live I guess. Most of the small indie shops in our area are really nice. We have a shoe repair shop, florist, bookstore, coffee shop, bar/grill and a grocer just around the corner from our house. There's a small gas station down the street that is owned and managed by the mechanic. I stop in and talk to him whenever I buy gas. The nice thing is, he knows us by name, and changes my oil and rotates my tires for $20. 
Head over to the nearby Italian neighborhood, and you will also find friendly shop and restaurant owners. Grab a beer and play some bocce. Excellent capicola (gabbagoul) there too. :icon_smile_big:


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## vwguy (Jul 23, 2004)

Most of the mom & pop places around here are pretty good, it's the big boxes where the service is lacking.

Brian


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

My local mom & pops range from exceptional to mediocre. You really have to judge them individually.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

You stopped in WLV and didn't say hi? Next time I'll post a sign at the Westlake BLVD offramp that reads 'Welcome to Southern California, now go home.'


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

I think it really depends on the products offered in the store. I find that small family-owned businesses are great for specialty items, particularly if those items require additional work from the factory or will require frequent servicing. The examples that most readily come to mind for me are clothes, musical instruments and sporting goods equipment (particularly ski equipment).

I think that small family-owned stores that sell run-of-the-mill products have a tough time offering anything superior to that of the large retailers.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

pleasehelp said:


> I think it really depends on the products offered in the store. I find that small family-owned businesses are great for specialty items, particularly if those items require additional work from the factory or will require frequent servicing. *The examples that most readily come to mind for me are clothes, musical instruments and sporting goods equipment (particularly ski equipment).*
> 
> I think that small family-owned stores that sell run-of-the-mill products have a tough time offering anything superior to that of the large retailers.


+1 I definitely agree with you about the sports equipment. The big box stores just carry run of the mill crap, and most of the salesmen couldn't care less about the products they sell. The local hockey shop I bought my skates from always sharpens them for free, and all the guys there play hockey. There's a store in a nearby town called the Alpine Shop, and the employees there all camp, hike and ski and actually use the products they sell. They even host several outdoor events during the year where you can go and try out their equipment (like kayaks) before you buy them. It's nice to have your questions about a certain product answered by someone who knows what they are talking about.


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Kav said:


> You stopped in WLV and didn't say hi? Next time I'll post a sign at the Westlake BLVD offramp that reads 'Welcome to Southern California, now go home.'




I knew the name of that town sounded familiar...okay Kav, I'll make a deal with you...next time I'm down there, you're more than welcome to meet up with me for some urban gear shopping at Tradition :icon_smile_big:

...I'll even buy you a green tea afterwards...


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

My experiences with independent stores are usually good. I love "mom and pop" coffee places and small restaurants especially!!


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## Phinn (Apr 18, 2006)

In our increasingly car-based society, predictability replaces familiarity. 

When you are driving cross-country on Eisenhower's Autobahn, do you stop to eat at a mom-and-pop place? It could be great or it could give you food poisoning. Or do you go the safe route -- stopping at a fast food chain where you know the food will be bad-but-acceptable because it will be exactly the same as you would find in the other 49 states? 

Brand recognition is valuable to consumers. It fulfills an important need -- to know what to expect. We don't know what to expect much anymore, because we don't know our neighbors. The lack of perfect information about what you will experience when you walk in the door creates a market demand for standardization, even if it is standardized mediocrity. 

Why are things like this? The government builds all the roads, and it lays out all the cities nowadays. It creates the urban sprawl, the anonymity, the development that is anti-local and homogenized. 

Standardized, national, big-box retailers are a market response to the anonymity and social dislocation caused by cities that have been transformed by massive freeways and 8-lane artery roads.


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

Excellent post, Phinn!!! I had not thought of it that way, but you make a lot of sense.

I guess, I still like trying mom and pop places to get away from the predictability, although I certainly don't shun the chains.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Not too many "Mom And Pop" stores around anymore where I come from.Everything is being owned by big businesses these days.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

Phinn said:


> In our increasingly car-based society, predictability replaces familiarity.
> 
> *When you are driving cross-country on Eisenhower's Autobahn, do you stop to eat at a mom-and-pop place? *It could be great or it could give you food poisoning. Or do you go the safe route -- stopping at a fast food chain where you know the food will be bad-but-acceptable because it will be exactly the same as you would find in the other 49 states?
> 
> ...


I try to, but am often overruled by others. 
Excellent post, btw.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

vwguy said:


> Most of the mom & pop places around here are pretty good, it's the big boxes where the service is lacking.
> 
> Brian


Nobody wants them around,They're old fashioned.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Howard, you don't want your Mom and Pop around because they're old fashioned?


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Kav said:


> Howard, you don't want your Mom and Pop around because they're old fashioned?


I never said that.The shops, not my Parents.


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## Alistair (Aug 12, 2007)

The Gabba Goul said:


> ...now, I've never been the biggest fan of "mom and pop" shops...usually the places are only open between the hours of noon and 3 PM, when you go in, the people are rude to you, and the prices are almost always higher...but recently when I was down south, I stopped at a little "urban gear" shop in Westlake Villiage...I was on my way to Orange County, so this was just going to be a quick little stop, but of course the place wasnt open when they said it would be, so I went and sat with a nice green tea at the Bad Ass coffee shop down the way (it's so nice to see that they're expanding)...anyway, when I finished my tea and went back, the shop was open, the guy working there was so friendly and helpful that it basically re-affirmed my faith in independant businesses...I only bought one $60 t-shirt but, he must have taken 40 minutes just chatting with me about several different things from the local shops that I frequent up here in the Bay Area, to the local artists whos work was on display in the shop. It was just so refreshing to walk into a mom and pop shop and not see a stressed out middle aged guy at the counter taking out his frusteration with the fact that he's not a good businessman on the customers all the while watching you like a hawk (because you know...****** steal), or his overweight bearded hag of a wife ignoring you so that she can help her buddies who don't pay for anything anyway...then on my way home I stopped in Solvang for some æbleskivers only to encounter the very kind of mom and pop shop that made me hate these kinds of businesses to begin with...and that's when it hit me...people complain about how the giants are killing independant business...but honestly, I think independant business is killing independant business...I think that a place like Tradition (the urban gear store I visited) will not only survive but expand because they build loyalty, nobody would choose to buy their gear at Macy*s or from some catalog if they had a place like this available to them, if I lived down there I'd be in buying something every week, but I know for a fact that every time I'm in the area from here on out, I'll be stopping in there to buy something...It's about customer service, I think that places like WalMart and Starbucks have become scapegoats for the fact that most mom and pop stores are run by lazy inept people who have no business owning a business to begin with...


No offense Gabba, but I'd recommend using a ¶ here and there. Many of your posts are really rough going for readability, as they are often a very long paragraph.


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## android (Dec 8, 2004)

Alistair said:


> No offense Gabba, but I'd recommend using a ¶ here and there. Many of your posts are really rough going for readability, as they are often a very long paragraph.


Yeah, and after you figure out how to use them, can you help out Kav. They guys tells the greatest stories, but paragraphs do seem to elude him! 

More on topic, My local bike shop is great and I support him when I can on a lot of items. But still, if something is $100 more in the shop vs. the net, I got to be smart with my money. I have to have something left over for clothes you know.


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

I frequent mom and pop stores whenever I can. I like to add my measly dollars to the cause of preserving these establishments. From the family owned dry cleaner I use to place that sells me hand made frozen tamales to a locally owned book store. With the current mobility of the population, both in the US and globally, we need to make some conscious efforts to maintain the local community we find ourselves in as much as possible.


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Wayfarer said:


> With the current mobility of the population, both in the US and globally, we need to make some conscious efforts to maintain the local community we find ourselves in as much as possible.


This is, of course, very true...one of the unfortunate casualties of the big boys taking over is the loss of a certain sense of "community", but...If I'm just going to stop and grab a cup of coffee, I'd rather deal with some braindead teenager down at Starbucks instead of some pissed off old guy who acts like he's doing me a favor by taking my money in his shop...

As I said above (see I started a new paragraph :icon_smile_big: ) I've been to good independant businesses (one of my favorite suit shops is independant), perhaps if I had some better places in my area, I'd feel differently, but unfortunately, maybe because I live in a small town full of people who would like to believe that they are more important than they really are, the independant businesses treat you like crap unless you're in "the club" (overweight, whitebread, upper middle class baby boomers, their botox queen wives who can't seem to grow old gracefully, and their dorky kids), so I'd rather give my money to the big boys...


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## omairp (Aug 21, 2006)

I really don't care if I support mom and pop shops or big multi-national conglomerates. Whoever treats me best gets my $$$. It may very well be the natural evolution of things that in the future mom and pop shops will no longer exist... that's just capitalism in action.

From what I've seen big chains can mop the floor with mom and pop shops for mass market items, but when it comes to specialty products, mom and pop shops usually seem to have an edge. For example, I can get a cheaper suit and Wal-Mart, but I can get a bang up bespoke suit from a little Italian tailor shop. Mom and pop shops just need to reposition themselves in the market. They will inevitable get slaughtered on price because of scales of economy for big businesses, but they can more easily position themselves to deliver a superior differentiated product to a very specific market.

Yesterday driving around town, one of my friends commented on how he doesn't shop at Wal-Mart because it's behemoth that destroys small business and manhandles suppliers, and of course, it's American. I told him I thought that was all silly.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Do Mom And Pop Shops hire full or part time?


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

Howard said:


> Do Mom And Pop Shops hire full or part time?


Both.


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## vwguy (Jul 23, 2004)

Howard said:


> Do Mom And Pop Shops hire full or part time?


Howard, maybe you could find a mom & pop shop that will pay you better than Pathmark to push carts?

Brian


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## Manly and Conservative (Nov 18, 2007)

The Gabba Goul said:


> ...I only bought one $60 t-shirt but, he must have taken 40 minutes just chatting with me...


That's a good deal. At Saks Fifth Avenue they sell a Dolce & Gabbana
McQueen Cotton Tee for $275, and that's _pre-order_ and with probably less than 5 minutes chat time with the telephone operator.

I'm all for Mom and Pop Shops. But every city's planning office has a penchant for building big boxes so good luck with your newest fad.



The Gabba Goul said:


> ...then on my way home I stopped in Solvang for some æbleskivers only to encounter the very kind of mom and pop shop that made me hate these kinds of businesses to begin with...


Solvang itself is one enormous retail box. If you took your typical Walmart and divided it into about 200 cubicles, stuck a Mom and Pop into each cubicle, filled each cubicle with Germanic themed plastic crap made in China, you would have a surprisingly accurate approximation of Solvang.

To be fair, though, I have a soft spot for the German food there too.


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## nzchap (Sep 7, 2007)

I find most 'mom and pop' stores in New Zealand don't stock what I would like so I buy clothing when overseas or at larger department stores that have half-way decent menswear departments.


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Manly and Conservative said:


> That's a good deal. At Saks Fifth Avenue they sell a Dolce & Gabbana
> McQueen Cotton Tee for $275, and that's _pre-order_ and with probably less than 5 minutes chat time with the telephone operator.


Wow...that's a really stupid shirt...I'm sorry I know it's fashionable in some circles (circles I don't care to frequent) to wear skin tight t-shirts...but that has to be one of the most retarded looks out there...plus...WTF is this fascination with Steve McQueen??? I mean really???



> To be fair, though, I have a soft spot for the German food there too.


Love the pastries...there's a few neat little wine shops aswell, but it was a ghost town the other day when I was there...that town really needs a facelift...


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

vwguy said:


> Howard, maybe you could find a mom & pop shop that will pay you better than Pathmark to push carts?
> 
> Brian


Well,It better be more than 8 dollars an hour.


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