Mom And Pops: Romancing the Store?
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Breaking this one out to be its own scope @Jonathan .
Were the Mom and Pops better than what we have now? Am i romanticizing them?
Big retail companies have put mom and pops out of business leading to money leaving rural communities syphoned off to more populous areas (see discussion of problems with 401ks). Downtown areas become vacant leading to depressed property values and loss of rural identity. Opportunities for entrepreneurship are lost, educated working age people leave. Walmart negotiates tax incentives with rural towns leading to loss of tax dollars. So on, so forth.
In suburban areas the effect is less pronounced wealthwise but still leads to loss of identity and entrepreneurship.
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This one is really interesting for me to think about since I both work for Walmart and came from a family that pulled itself up, socioeconomically, via a Mom and Pop clothing store that was essentially run out of business by the big box chains and Amazon.
Walmart's slogan is "save money. live better." and there's some truth to that. They drive down prices and it does help a ton of consumers.
Downtown areas have died for a lot of reasons and you can't pin that all on Walmart. The downtown area where my mom's family store was died and there's no Walmart nearby.
This isn't a data-driven or rational argument, but I do think San Francisco neighborhoods have charm because they have essentially outlawed chains especially chain restaurants. Separate topic but restaurants seem to be the only things succeeding in terms of brick and mortar small-ish establishments. OK now I'm just rambling. But interesting topic @approxinfinity
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I grew up in a post big box america, but have since moved to a small city in the Netherlands. There are definitely still plenty of big chains, but I have found a lot more mom & pop stores and they tend to be 10-20% more expensive, but they have expertise that saves you money in the long term.
Like, just last week I went to a leather good store to try and find something similar to my favorite belt. Instead they talked me into leaving the belt for refurbishing and when I picked it up a week later it was almost as good as new, and only cost me €14. Quality is generally just higher, and when there are issues they tend to actually help sort something out.
Admittedly, there's probably some survivorship bias going on, but I do think it's a better experience. In the few cases when I have a bad experience, I just don't shop there anymore. I think the worst thing about big box stores is that ultimately they're all the same experience with different branding. But if you stop visiting one of them due to some enshittification policy, you can bet the other stores will all be doing it in a few years
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Questions about Mom and Pops… would it be feasible for government to the feds to subsidize small business in depressed rural communities to bring in back, and at the same time maybe create a new zoning type for shared space so that multiple small businesses can share the same space, the idea being to create a critical mass that jumpstarts shopping and employment? I know these ideas are all over the place and may not be tethered in reality, but keep me honest here. If the feds subsidize corn farmers artiticially forever why cant they subsidize mom and pops get restarted if they can be sustainable and come off subsidies?
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I grew up in a post big box america, but have since moved to a small city in the Netherlands. There are definitely still plenty of big chains, but I have found a lot more mom & pop stores and they tend to be 10-20% more expensive, but they have expertise that saves you money in the long term.
Like, just last week I went to a leather good store to try and find something similar to my favorite belt. Instead they talked me into leaving the belt for refurbishing and when I picked it up a week later it was almost as good as new, and only cost me €14. Quality is generally just higher, and when there are issues they tend to actually help sort something out.
Admittedly, there's probably some survivorship bias going on, but I do think it's a better experience. In the few cases when I have a bad experience, I just don't shop there anymore. I think the worst thing about big box stores is that ultimately they're all the same experience with different branding. But if you stop visiting one of them due to some enshittification policy, you can bet the other stores will all be doing it in a few years
@mrfiddles being immersed in different cultures allows people to see how things can function differently holistically. Thanks for sharing. It would be nice if living abroad was something everyone experienced. What a difference it would make!
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This one is really interesting for me to think about since I both work for Walmart and came from a family that pulled itself up, socioeconomically, via a Mom and Pop clothing store that was essentially run out of business by the big box chains and Amazon.
Walmart's slogan is "save money. live better." and there's some truth to that. They drive down prices and it does help a ton of consumers.
Downtown areas have died for a lot of reasons and you can't pin that all on Walmart. The downtown area where my mom's family store was died and there's no Walmart nearby.
This isn't a data-driven or rational argument, but I do think San Francisco neighborhoods have charm because they have essentially outlawed chains especially chain restaurants. Separate topic but restaurants seem to be the only things succeeding in terms of brick and mortar small-ish establishments. OK now I'm just rambling. But interesting topic @approxinfinity
@ilam.fields this might spitball into a separate topic but maybe that brings us to cost of living / rent / housing and percent of mean income in urban areas over time.
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I grew up when the closest thing we had to big box stores were supermarkets like Safeway and department stores like Sears. The small independents still did a thriving business, though, mostly by offering products and expertise not found elsewhere.
My (rose coloured?) memory is that this meant a wider range of products and more expertise at the retail level than is now available.
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For one there is the price the small stores pays issue for items. ilsr.org is a great resource for the Robinson-Patman Act and lots of article promoting small business. That and clean power (energy) and broadband access are the three main areas for awhile for that great organization.