The Mom & Pop Store: How the Unsung Heroes of the American Economy Are Surviving and Thriving - Hardcover

Spector, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802716059 ISBN 13: 9780802716057

Publisher: Walker Books, 2009

Synopsis

A celebration of the history of small, independent retail and the story of how mom & pop stores across the country still thrive on attentive customer service and renewed community support for local businesses.

Business journalist Robert Spector grew up working in his family's butcher shop in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where he learned invaluable lessons about the independent retail business-and about life. Mom & pop stores have always brought people together, fostering a sense of neighborhood identity and camaraderie, and are the glue that connects people in big cities and small towns alike.

Long fascinated by the "direct connection" people feel as merchants and customers when they do business in neighborhood shops, and responding to the growing "buy local" movement across the country, Spector sets out to discover the state, and the state of mind, of independent retailing in America. From a specialty soda pop shop in Los Angeles to a florist shop in Dayton, Ohio, from a bakery in Chicago to a bookstore in Bellingham, Washington, mom & pop store owners shared their stories with him, revealing the spirit and tenacity of the small business owner, dealing with frustration and defeat as well as triumph and success. Spector also interweaves the history of independent retailing. The Mom & Pop Store reflects the story of this country, for it embraces and cross-references every ethnic group and virtually every element of our society.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Spector is author of The Nordstrom Way, The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence, Amazon. Com: Get Big Fast, and Category Killers. He has appeared on C NN, C NBC, ABC, Fox News, PBS, Bloomberg Business, NPR's Marketplace Report, and numerous other radio shows, and has written on business for the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He lives in Seattle. Visit his Web site at www.robertspector.com.

From Publishers Weekly

Spector (Category Killers) offers a love letter to American small-business people, in particular his beloved, hardworking father, a neighborhood butcher. A tribute to local merchants, depicted as independent, passionate and persistent and the guardians of our most basic and enduring commercial bond, the book presents a broad, intriguing history of the 90% of all modern-day U.S. businesses, which are family-owned or controlled, and their neighborhood-defining, community-building, ethics-based contribution to the American way of life. Spector touches on such examples of small-business successes as Rob Kaufelt of Murray's Cheese in New York's Greenwich Village, but his book truly sings when the author recounts his childhood spent in his family's butcher shop and the practical wisdom he gleaned at his father's knee. Cheerful and charming, this is a heartfelt look at life on the other side of the counter. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0802716059
• ISBN 13: 9780802716057
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304