Mom & Pop Shops musing 5197Re-reading my response, I see that it became a RANT. I do a lot of internet shopping. I don't know how this impacts on the ruin-ers of 'mom & pops' and the...
That is true, but big chains have benefits mom 'n' pop stores can't touch, like demanding special versions of products or volume discounts; dealing directly with manufacturers and dictating the terms of payment or even holding inventory; and the deeper pockets it takes to lease space in more-expensive neighborhoods.
Mom & Pop Shops musing 5198Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan I am surprised to hear so many negative comments about Home Depot. My wife hates it when I shop at box stores, but I usually find that Home Depot has...
One local shopping district within city limits here has seen the store mix change from almost-exclusively independents to large chains (though, I'm thankful, no big boxes). Small-store owners can't afford the escalating rents. Trouble is, if all you can find here is the same Chicos and CVSs and Starbucks and Chipotles and Ace Hardwares you can find anywhere else, why brave parking downtown (parallel parking already gives the suburbanites the willies)? So, in the long run, they'll kill this shopping district, anyway.
Then there's the matter of trying to shop at a mom 'n' pop shop. I needed a new cartridge for my inkjet printer. I tried to buy it at an independent office-supply store. No dice. There are only two here in a city of 350,000 people, and getting to them and finding the cartridge I needed was futile. Ended up at Target, which had it. *sigh*
sd
