Nice Read- 107-year-old Pennsylvania family store describes challenges for mom-and-pop shops: 'Fighting to keep going'

[GON]

Nice read about a 107 year old small grocery store in rural Pennsylvania keeps going in an environment that has everything in favor of the "big boys".

I love that the grocery is cooking nice food in the back to include Italian dishes. The owner knows and greets the customers- a whole lot to like about this store and its owners and it story.

I always think- if the USA would allow free market in healthcare and related industries- the USA would see a boon in high quality small "Mom and Pop" shops. I speculate the owners of this shop have their healthcare covered under Medicare, or part of the Owner's retirement plan from the printer he worked at for 40 years. The owners appeared to have worked hard their entire lives- and continue to work hard- KUDOS to them.

107-year-old Pennsylvania family store describes challenges for mom-and-pop shops: 'Fighting to keep going'

The Centermoreland Grocery & Deli is a general store with more than a century of history in rural Pennsylvania that refuses to keep up with competitors.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[wpod]

It is chasllenging to be self employed or run your own business.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

GON, Thanks for sharing.....great read indeed. There are similar places like this around the U.S. but they are not well known. Here is one that I know of. Give it a visit if your travels take you through TN.

 

[GON]

Wrenchturner,

Thanks for sharing the awesome story about The Cumberland General Store! I hope to visit the store sometime.

Wonder how good that Horehound candy is- and who makes that candy? Ant that soda fountain made by Borden in the late 1940s sure does look inviting. I love how the owner said," cooking is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life----- but I know what good food tastes like"!

 

[Silver]

There are stores and businesses in general like that all through Georgia. Not as many as say 20 years ago of course, but they're there. Dollar General is their biggest problem. They like setting up at crossroads in the middle of nowhere.

These type small businesses in the metro area I'm in though are not like they used to be. They're small shops with no buying power judging by their bizarre prices, not much of anything unique to offer, and they somehow have let themselves adopt a "big boy" attitude to go along with the small boy, big prices. They don't like their customers; Customers are just another number to them, just like Wal-Mart. And they drive away each day at 2 or 3pm or whenever they decide to close in their $80k car to their $600k house, wash their 30' boat, take in some football on their 65" tv and hit the sack. They may or may not "go in" tomorrow. They possess all the disadvantages of both a small and large business, and hardly any of the advantages.

 

[Koainn]

Nice read about a 107 year old small grocery store in rural Pennsylvania keeps going in an environment that has everything in favor of the "big boys".

I love that the grocery is cooking nice food in the back to include Italian dishes. The owner knows and greets the customers- a whole lot to like about this store and its owners and it story.

I always think- if the USA would allow free market in healthcare and related industries- the USA would see a boon in high quality small "Mom and Pop" shops. I speculate the owners of this shop have their healthcare covered under Medicare, or part of the Owner's retirement plan from the printer he worked at for 40 years. The owners appeared to have worked hard their entire lives- and continue to work hard- KUDOS to them.

107-year-old Pennsylvania family store describes challenges for mom-and-pop shops: 'Fighting to keep going'

The Centermoreland Grocery & Deli is a general store with more than a century of history in rural Pennsylvania that refuses to keep up with competitors.

www.foxbusiness.com

Lots of mom and pop stores in big cities....call em bodegas....I remember as a kid going to the neighborhood mom and pop stores in Chicago...last time I drove thru that area 2 of them still in business

 

[GON]

Lots of mom and pop stores in big cities....call em bodegas....I remember as a kid going to the neighborhood mom and pop stores in Chicago...last time I drove thru that area 2 of them still in business

On or about 2010 I was assigned a duty to officially assist a family on the South Side of Chicago whose Son had died in the Army. I needed some personal hygiene items and went to the little store in the neighborhood. I was blown away at the mind-blowing high prices of things like shaving cream and deodorant. And these personal hygiene items were not only priced super high, but they were of brands that I had never heard of.

I am sure the big city bodegas you experienced were different- but what I experienced was sad on many levels.

 

[Leo99]

On or about 2010 I was assigned a duty to officially assist a family on the South Side of Chicago whose Son had died in the Army. I needed some personal hygiene items and went to the little store in the neighborhood. I was blown away at the mind-blowing high prices of things like shaving cream and deodorant. And these personal hygiene items were not only priced super high, but they were of brands that I had never heard of.

I am sure the big city bodegas you experienced were different- but what I experienced was sad on many levels.

My family always went to a local hardware store in town. One of those places full of clutter that sold everything you could need. I need this circular fluorescent bulb for our kitchen. The hardware store had one (of course) for like $20. I thought that sounded high so I decided to go to the new Home Depot that just opened up and was new to our region. Same bulb, $10. I wanted to support the local hardware store but not paying double.

My uncle owned a bodega years ago. After the second time he had a gun stuck in his face, he sold the store.

I visited a store in the city that sold eggs. Like $2 a dozen or 25 cents each. A lot of people bought individual eggs.

 

[PandaBear]

Things change over time. Before "general stores" there were traveling merchants on wagons and will visit each village once in a while, like maybe twice a month, they traded with you in your own crops or livestock. They disappeared when every family has a horse and their own wagons and villages became towns.

Today with online order and free shipping, "general stores" have to change and becomes more of a local pub or cafe with other services, or have to specialize into something different and do business in a larger area "online".

I know this is not the same as a suburban mall in China, but there's a comment I read online that explains why a 'mall' in suburb would be full of restaurants instead of retailers. Basically the rent is high and people can get better deal ordering online, retail space can only sustain itself by being something not replaceable by online or driving to a further cheaper retail location, so, restaurants. Same for general stores.

 

[DriveHard]

It is chasllenging to be self employed or run your own business.

It is a challenge to be competitive, but it is a bigger challenge to meet all the regulations.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Very interesting. We just had a local small mom and pop grocery and meat store close up after 50 years of operation. Sad to see these little places go by the wayside.

 

[hank2]

I know of a couple general stores in the northern mountains of Pa. Many other local ones there are long gone for 50 or more years. If they're the only source of beans, bullets, bread and gas pump without a 40-mile round trip drive, they might survive.

In the 70's to late 90's I lived about 20 miles north of where I currently do. It had been a very rural area, mostly agriculture and some craftsmen. While it remains a semblance of the same today, it's become much more of a mansion or Mcmansion on every hill top type of area. There were 5 general stores in a 7-mile radius of where I lived back then. One is still there as more of a tourist stop than an actual store. Some of the old village general stores also held the local post office. Typically, the owner was the Postmaster and his wife the asst. Postmaster. Quite lucrative all around.

 

[chrlsful]

"...It is chasllenging to be self employed or run your own business...."
"...It is a challenge to be competitive, but it is a bigger challenge to meet all the regulations...."
God lub 'em for tryin/the risks involved
stock what they want, offer the new in small ways to see if it takes (a 2, 3 chair table for eating what they currently make/sells well), do some training/inter-face w/owners during sale/transfer, have a suggestion box outside or some where U can not see who drops what in there?