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Mom-and-pop shops suffering in economic crunch
In July, I read an article about the Wisteria Candy Cottage, a famous candy store in Boulevard, a town in the desert outside San Diego. The owner had passed away, and her daughter was unable to buy her mother’s share from the family trust. Also, business was down: rising gas prices had scared away interstate customers who used to stop in for Wisteria’s handcrafted chocolate and unique treats on their way in from Arizona. And so, on July 30, the store closed its doors after 87 years.
This morning, I read in the San Diego Union-Tribune about another mom-and-pop shop on the verge of going under: “Dominic’s Barber Shop…a three-chair affair where hair tonic ads from the 1960s hang on the wall and a working stiff can still get a lively conversation and a trim for $12.” According to the article, lots of small businesses are in trouble: Business is slow, and owners are locked into leases negotiated in better economic times. For owners looking to sell, buyers are scarce, especially now that credit is harder to get.
I’ve always tried to patronize mom-and-pops when I could. During the Pokemon craze, I’d take my kids to the local comic book store instead of Target, paying the extra fifty cents for a packet of the silly cards just so I could teach the kids the value of entrepreneurship. I’m not opposed to big corporations: Even Wal-Mart started out as a mom-and-pop (Walton’s Five and Dime.) Still, it saddens me to see so many mom-and-pops struggling.
Are you losing any cherished businesses in your town?
back to top16 Comments to “Mom-and-pop shops suffering in economic crunch”
My own family runs a small business. This business is currently supporting my mom, both brothers, two nephews, a cousin and a couple of non related but loyal families. I don’t think they are going under at the moment, but high taxes, over regulation and gas prices are making it hard.
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In my hometown the old Main St or “Downtown down on the square” businesses long ago passed from the scene. The non-multiplex theater is for community theater groups. The remaining office space is antique shops, realtors and one-man law firms.
I’m saddened that folks rushed right up to sign leases locking them into pricey rents. A solution? Adjustable rate rents with up or down flexibility?
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The little town where I live has only a few small shops left. There are several empty buildings along Main St, and most have been empty for over ten years, after a foundry foundered. Then this year’s flooding closed a few others. Even the post office has not reopened, as the owner of the building cannot afford to remodel after having six feet of water, and, from what I heard, did not take advantage of the FEMA buyout. The Post Office is using the old city hall building, and most likely will for years to come.
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By the way, can anyone confirm if they finally booted that conservative gal Hesselbeck from “The View”?? At least Sarah Palin will now have a fall-back job if this Veep thing fails, no?
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I haven’t lived in this town long enough to know what businesses are cherished and how long they have been around, but there certainly are a lot of vacancies on 2nd Street (our “main street”). Some of the current vacancies are from startup small businesses that didn’t make it - which is normal, as only a small number of new companies make it past five years. Some are people who moved and took their business with them - I don’t know to what extent the moves were economically motivated. I haven’t heard of any really long-time businesses closing recently, but I can’t say for sure there aren’t any.
My favorite mom-and-pop store just moved into larger quarters. It’s a toy store that expanded into baby products when the owner of the store next to them moved (with his business) to California. Apparently there wasn’t enough business to justify two storefronts, so they moved the baby business to the basement of the toy store (which had been the discount section). Then the Mississippi River moved into the basement, and they had to cram everything into the first floor. I haven’t been in their new store yet, but it’s always fun to go there - better quality both in workmanship and educational value than the mass market toys at Wal-Mart.
There are three stores that apparently had trouble staying open, and they solved their problem by moving in together. A scrapbook store, a party store, and I forget the third, maybe a formalwear rental store. I think that’s a great solution, rather than any of them having to close. There’s business for all three, but not the constant stream of customers that justifies a separate storefront for each.
One thing to keep in mind regarding mom-and-pop stores is that few last more than two or three generations regardless of economic conditions. Traits such as business acumen, the desire to run that kind of business, and the energy and dedication it takes to keep it going - those aren’t inherited, and sooner or later there’s a generation where no one wants the store, and it either closes or it’s sold (in which case it often changes into a very different business).
What interests me is the new mom-and-pop type stores that have opened recently in our town. A pizza restaurant, at least two gift stores, a Thai restaurant, probably at least a couple others I’ve forgotten.
I read in the paper that the local banks were saying that our local economy should do well, because the banks (and credit unions) are local (i.e. not part of huge corporations), with local deposit and local loans, so the mess in some of the national companies should have less impact on us.
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I went into a Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago and purchased something. I came across this Wal-Mart unexpectedly near one of my (many) work locations.
This is only my second time visiting a Wal-Mart, and only my second time making a purchase. [Both statements are true.]
If Wal-Mart falls on hard times, it’s hardly my fault. Support your local Wal-Mart.
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Alas, we just lost a time-honored and beloved local bookstore.
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Within the last year, within 3 blocks of here, a bakery (15 years), both local haberdashers (many years for both), various restaurants including the last good one. Some replaced by martial arts studios or tattoo parlors, and one nice motorcycle paraphernalia shop, most not. It looks a bit like Beirut…
A couple of years ago, the County tore the heart out of downtown by moving its offices and courts 7 blocks away from the town center. Anybody wanna buy an 11,000 sq ft building with 17 decent paneled, carpeted offices and a semi-luxurious judge’s office for under 250?
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The biggest loss of a mom-and-pop business in the Chicago area happened several years ago. It was the nicest little classical music radio station you can imagine called WNIB. It was run from a home. In fact sometimes you could hear the dog barking in the background.(Never, however, during the music!) The couple who owned it were elderly and had no one to take over. It’s band width was sold for something like 38 million and now has just one more rock station filling it.
My second least favorite loss was of a great little needlepoint and knitting shop. They moved several times during the years that I patronized them. This last time they lost their lease and decided to close rather than relocate.
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In my medium sized town (@25,000), main street is full with no empty shops. My favorite ice cream/desert shop had to close because the owner of the building wanted to open his own shop and the shop couldn’t find a new place. There are no chain stores (except a drug store) and no Wal-Mart or other department stores near the town. There are no outskirts to my town since we are surrounded by cliffs on three sides and wetlands on one side, hence no big box stores.
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I hear pawn shops and soup kitchens are springing up everywhere.
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Kathy,
I didn’t know WNIB was run from a home! One sweet thing that happened when it folded was that the other classical station in town ran its fund-raiser just a short time later…and received three or four times its budgeted total, because nobody wanted to see it fold too!
My biggest losses have been a couple of good bookstores in Chicago, but that was a number of years ago, like WNIB’s folding.
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There is only one thing I can think of, and it hasn’t happened yet:
My favorite Barnes & Noble is closing and moving from a free standing building to a giant mall in November. I really liked being able to hop out of my truck and walk a few feet into the store, especially when it was cold and raining. Now it’s moving to a huge mall, where parking is a nightmare and you have to walk 5 miles to get anywhere. (Like most men, I don’t “do” malls unless I absolutely have to, which is like once a year at Christmas). Mind you, I go to the bookstore probably 300 days out of the year, so it’s a big deal to me. I knew the store better than a lot of the employees did as far as where to find stuff.
Plus I have another few gripes about Barnes & Noble - in their new stores they reduce the seating by 80-90% to discourage “dwaddlers” like me. I swear I’m gonna take my Tennessee Vols fold-up chair and take it into the store with me so I have a seat. Second, they place the aisles in their new stores so close together and cram so many display tables at the ends of the aisles that you cannot walk down an aisle if someone is already in it. It’s more like a dang warehouse than a real bookstore.
Anyway, they’ve already removed all of the study tables and a lot of the chairs, plus about a third of the books from the store that’s closing. There’s enough room to skateboard in there now. All the high school and college students had their study tables taken away, which is pretty crummy. And the regulars like me realize our days of hanging out there are about over.
Of course, I’ve talked to nearly every employee of the current Barnes & Noble, including the manager, and they all tell me the same thing: Sorry, but these are corporate decisions that they can’t do anything about. To a person, they’re all unhappy about the move and the new emphasis on getting people in and out of the store as fast as possible. No wonder Barnes & Noble is struggling financially.
I’d give anything for a Borders to open up in the area. I’d dump B&N in a heartbeat, and I’ve given them a lot of my money over the years.
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Serious message
A local fabric store that my wife used from time to time closed.
Also, a local bowling alley closed.
And the rental place/Stihl chain saw dealer closed.
That’s capitalism at work. Sausage being made. Bowling balls rolling alone. Immigrants sneaking across the border.
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I swear I’m gonna take my Tennessee Vols fold-up chair and take it into the store with me so I have a seat.
Oh man, Anlir, I’d love to see the B&N people’s reaction when they saw that
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Here is my struggle. I hear how bad everything is each day listening to the headlines. Yet every weekend when I try to go out with friends, there are lines to get into restaurants. The theaters are so packed you have to leave early or wait for a Monday or Tuesday to go. I don’t get it, I hear doom and gloom but don’t see that things are as bad as they seem to be. My brother owns a restaurant and he had one of his best years financially this year!
When I am told I will have a one hour wait for a table (and I live in a city with far too many restaurants per capita) I feel like asking the crowds if they are aware that the economy is in the tank, the world is ending, so get out of my way and go home!
My question to all is, how much of this “bad economy” is real, and how much of it is fabricated? I think there there is evidence to support both.
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