Mom-and-pop stores enduring well

Robert Spector cringes when he hears people lament the demise of mom-and-pop shops.

The author of the book "The Mom & Pop Store: The Power and Endurance of the Small Indie Trader" told a crowd Saturday in Salt Lake City that "unsophisticated or something of nostalgia" is how some people view mom-and-pop stores. Spector suggests their view would be improved simply by using their eyes.

"Some people, when they hear that term, they think of something nostalgic," Spector told a crowd of about 450 at the American Booksellers Association winter gathering. "I've had people say to me, 'Ah, the mom-and-pop stores. Too bad they're all gone.' Anybody who says, 'Too bad they're all gone,' I say, 'Look around you. They're everywhere.'"

They often are in the form of bookstores, dry cleaners, butchers and bakers, he said.

"The small independent retailer, the small independent trader, is alive and well. People just need to look around and obviously support people like you and what you do," Spector said.

Spector, who also has written books about Nordstrom and Amazon.com and worked as a youngster at his parents' farmers-market butcher shop in New Jersey, said he believes small, independent retailers are entering a golden age — perhaps their strongest period in more than a century.

Mom-and-pop stores may not always have moms and pops running them, but those shops are epitomized by owners desiring independence, maintaining a singular entrepreneurial vision — "you've got to bring something interesting to the table," he said — possessing a willingness to work hard, being passionate about their work, adaptable to change and having a connection to their communities, Spector said.

That connection goes beyond selling goods and services for money. In part, it's an understanding that people desire interaction and connection, he said.

"So your mom-and-pop stores are not only important just for your food and drink and clothing that they sell us, but also for intellectual stimulation, for social interaction and for a connection to our community. We need mom-and-pop stores. We need small, independent traders because we are social animals. We crave to be in the marketplace," Spector said.

That's why small, independent business has survived at least 4,000 years, he said.

"At the height of the dot-com bubble, as you remember, the experts were saying, 'Well, we no longer need brick-and-mortar stores because everybody's going to be buying everything they need online in their bathrobe at two o'clock in the morning. So, no reason to have stores anymore.' Well, I think these are the same people who predicted a paperless office and the 30-hour workweek," he said.

"And mom-and-pop stores have endured every new retail concept that's been thrown at them: department stores, chain stores, discount stores, mail-order catalogs and the Internet. But they're still around. That's why, after the Apocalypse, the only survivors will be cockroaches and mom-and-pop stores. Who else could exist on such meager sustenance, right?"

E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com