Mom & Pop vs. Big Chains
18
December
One of my favorite web video-journalists over past year has been Yahoo’s Kevin Sites. His feature “In The Hot Zone” has covered interesting conflicts all over the world. From the Middle East, to Africa and the rest of the world, this new “backpack journalism” showed behind the scenes stories not featured in mainstream media. They’ve now teamed up with independent filmmakers, shift focus and place, to the United States.
“Independent America,” by Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes, asks if small, independent businesses are a thing of the past in modern America. They traveled across the back-roads of America to see what impact big business has on local shops.
I thought this would be of interest to residents of Hoboken, since rising rents and corporate competition have always loomed on the horizon as potentially damaging to our wide-array of independent local retailers. Enjoy the video!
Hoboken, retailers, shopping
1. homeworld | December 18th, 2006 at 9:13 am
even Rite Aid couldn’t handle it on Washinton Street.
2. westy | December 18th, 2006 at 9:16 am
Lucky that could never happen in Hoboken!!!!
Imagine somebody coming in and “just buying the election” in Hoboken….
If I remember right, our lame duck Mayor once said he wanted to put a “big box retailer” in the NW redevelopment zone.
He has two years left to sell “his vision of Hoboken.”
Everyone knows you can’t always trust anything Mr. David Roberts says.
3. hoboken411 | December 18th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I guess this is why Hoboken small business survives, unlike small-town America. The congested and over-populated area leaves plenty of opportunity for everyone. We have Targets, Wal-Marts, Sam’s Clubs all over the place. People can only take so much of the ridiculous traffic conditions. Now if we can only control the insane rent increases.. maybe we can keep it that way…
4. MidnightRacer | December 18th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Let’s talk about some small “Independent American” businesses that the reporters claim are disappearing:
A small coffee bean retailer by an english teacher Jerry Baldwin, a history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gorden Bowker began in Seattle, WA in 1971. A new partner, Howard Schultz in 1982 had the great idea of going beyond the beans to actually sell coffee and espresso drinks along with the beans. No one else had done this. So the great idea here was, instead of selling beans to people who traditionally made coffee at home, the consumers could walk in, buy some beans and order a beverage on their way to work. The partners took their success and shared it across America, who loved the idea of high quality beverages and beans on the go. They are, Starbuck’s.
A small family restaurant under two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald began in 1940. Their great innovative American idea was to introduce “Speedee Service System” in 1948 which offered consumers (for the first time) quick convenient consistent food in order to compete against the pay and wait service. The partners took their success and shared it across America, who loved the idea of quick, convenient consitent food. They are, McDonald’s.
A small business retailer Sam Walton started up a business called, “Walton’s Five and Dime” in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1945. His great idea was to “achieve higher sales volume by selling products with slightly smaller markups than most competitors”. The partners took their success and shared it across America, who loved the idea of saving their hard earned money and not being ripped off by high mark ups from competitors. They are, Walmart.
5. MidnightRacer | December 18th, 2006 at 10:19 am
I actually grew up in a literally “Mom & Pop” small business as my parents begun one of the first cheese steak and hoagie place in central Texas in the 1970’s. We had a great idea and started in a place that still thought a cheese steak was a T-Bone steak with cheese on it. But things changed and everyone wanted one. Eventually, the business became extremely succesful and our family had offers left and right from people who wanted us to train them to open cheese steak places just like ours.
And that’s the problem I have with this video, “Independent America,” by Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes. They seem to be ignoring the fact that these corporations they despise and criticize as “elitist” or “evil” actually, factually began as a small “Mom & Pop” stores which had a great idea and grew that success over time across a free market capitalist country.
It’s my impression that some people want small businesses to not achieve so much success from a business model which works to give the consumer what they want and deserve - by limiting their growth to just 1 store. If it wasn’t desired, these business models wouldn’t be so successful. For people to say these successful small businesses turn corporations are no good, well, you’re actually saying the people who shop there to make them so successful are also, no good.
6. westy | December 18th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Satan started out as the most favored of God and grew into the devil.
Size matters.
7. Mel | December 18th, 2006 at 11:02 am
It’s my understanding that the Hoboken corrupt gov’t has been somewhat tough on some small businesses here - they favor some but others are gone in a jiffy, and I can’t imagine that it’s always because they are failures.
8. CharlieAParker | December 18th, 2006 at 11:03 am
When I first saw the title, “In Praise of Chain Stores”, I though WTF, but an interesting (and short) read:
theatlantic.com/doc/200612/postrel-...xKN%2BAmT9xVDyfcZ9Hn%2FBgy46NGj4%3D
9. MidnightRacer | December 18th, 2006 at 11:14 am
CharlieAParker wrote:
Very articulate article. Page 2 is especially well founded.
10. rapperd | December 18th, 2006 at 11:54 am
The truth is that even though most people are pulling for the mom & pop stores, the pricing is so much better at the larger chain stores that it’s impossible to ignore… Of course there are times when you’d still shop at the mom & pops out of convenience, but when you have the time to go to the chain, it’s definitely more financially prudent.
On a side note - Mayor Dave Roberts had a quote in the Hudson paper this past week that he was not running for a 3rd term! Halleluyah!! (although he also said he could change his mind - boooo!)