Mom and pop stores used to be family own businesses, drugstores, and general stores. In today’s market, there’re many businesses like insurance companies, repair shops, bookstores, and restaurants are operating their establishment synonymously as mom and pop store.
Today we’ll discuss mom and pop store, its statistics, advantages, disadvantages, and a real-life example.
Table of Contents
What Mom and Pop Store?
Mom and pop store means that a small private and independent family-owned business. A small number of employees and families usually run various operations of the business. Big retail stores are their main competitors because they’ve more purchasing power and they often struggle to compete with them.
Such mom and pop stores usually make small revenue, and many consider them less experienced entities and investors. They don’t have multiple locations across the country. They usually sell local indigenous products at one location point.
Ever since people have started searching for unique products, the publicity and acceptance of mom and pop store have increased. Many people celebrate the mom and pop store business day on March 29 every year. The purpose of mom and pop store is to develop the growth of local communities; they pump money into the local market and promote usage of local products.
Big businesses and companies like franchises, the chain of retail stores, e-commerce, tech platforms, and big corporation pose a great threat to the mom and pop store. It’s because economies of scale lower their prices. They have more resources for advertising and marketing campaigns, more capital for expanding their market, and they can hire professional people.
The abovementioned advantages provide a huge competitive edge to the big businesses over mom and pop family business. They can easily kick the small businesses out of the market.
But there’s still hope for the mom and pop businesses. It’s because many customers require a personalized product and service. Many customers ask this question “where can I find the nearest mom and pop store? They should use the internet and social media to target their market and broaden the search area.
“Small business Saturday” is a recent trend in America where people go out shopping on Saturday after the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a great step against the “black Friday” where the big stores offer products at discounts. On the other hand, mom and pop shops have a great interest in promoting the local economy, community, and citizens. They offer highly personalized service and it wins the heart of the customers.
Mom and Pop Statistics
- According to an estimate, 68% of the small medium-sized businesses say that e-commerce has had a positive influence. 90% of the whole retail shopping is through in-store purchase.
- Family-owned businesses have control over 90% of the total businesses in America.
- According to an estimate, 40% of the millennials support local businesses. 98% of the generation z shoppers want a real-life experience of in-store shopping.
- 57% of owners of the mom and pop businesses have an age of more than 50 years old.
- 70% of the companies in the US have the foundation of mom and pop businesses.
- According to a study, every 7 out of 10 customers research products online before going out for in-store shopping. It helps them to narrow down their options.
- 53% of the customers prefer quality product/service over price. Therefore, you should invest in the quality of your products to get a competitive edge.
- 75% of the customers would visit a store that they’re already familiar with it, instead of visiting a new store.
Advantages of Mom and Pop Stores
- Mom and pop shops offer an exciting crazy experience along with highly personalized service.
- They’re easily available in every neighborhood.
- The customer service in the small stores is much better than the big stores.
- You’ll have a very comfortable shopping experience in the mom and pop shop. The owner would probably greet you as soon as you enter the shop.
- You can place a personalized order or in parts according to your needs and wishes, and no-one would ask you why.
- The owner of the mom and pop shop would love to help as soon as you ask them.
Disadvantages of Mom and Pop Stores
- There are limited choices are available at the mom and pop shop.
- They usually sell a limited variety of products. That’s why customers won’t be able to buy everything in one place just like the big shopping malls. They would probably have to turn around and visit other stores to complete their shopping.
- If the owner of the shop has a bad history, then his image would greatly impact his business. Probably, people won’t visit the store.
- Usually, members of the family-run the operations of the store, that’s why they can’t offer the 24 hours availability service.
- The price range of small stores is usually higher than the big stores. It’s because they don’t have the luxury of economies of scale and access to cheaper suppliers. That’s why some customers don’t like it there.
Examples of Mom and Pop shops
Bar Toto
Bar toto an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. It’s a very good example of a mom and pop shop. Here is a review of Bill de Blasio, Mayor, and First lady Chirlane McCray:
“Bar Toto is a perfect extension of our living room and dining room. It’s on our block in Park Slope, so we feel at one with our neighborhood here. Cozy and homey and down to earth, it’s a place for family occasions, big and small.”
Yankee Candle
Yankee Candle is a very good example of a mom and pop store. Michael Kittredge with two other partners opened up Yankee Candle store in 1969 in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Yankee Candle falls under the category of 2nd largest candle producing company in the US. There are approximately 6000 people are working for Yankee Candle and the company has got 575 stores across the country.
