Mom-and-Pop Stores – Flushing, New York

Let’s take a look inside a typical Flushing store or more like a mini-mall full of mom-and-pop stores. Some of the newer developments are larger and fancier. But at its heart, the area is a hotbed of small family-owned businesses — unlike the typical suburb with giant big box retail.

While each small business may come and go, Flushing’s entire retail enterprise is probably resilient. There appears to be a Darwinian struggle where the strong survive. Smart business people can watch the competition and adjust accordingly. Copy what seems to work well and offer niche services that are underserved.

Flushing’s retail is a big contrast from the rest of the US., where giant stores continue to kill off smaller ones. That all seems to work until that dominant store makes a strategic mistake and closes an underperforming big box, thus laying off hundreds of workers and decimating the surrounding community.

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