For many Americans, the phrase "mom and pop store" is irresistible, bringing back memories of a favorite candy store or corner grocery, usually run by an irascible immigrant with a hidden soft side. It's no news at all, of course, that the advent of monolithic chain stores and "big box" "category-killers," to use retailing parlance, threatens the existence of these embattled gems.

With "The Mom & Pop Store: How the Unsung Heroes of the American Economy Are Surviving and Thriving," Seattle-based business guru Robert Spector has written a celebration of the traditional virtues of such shops and a proclamation of their continued vitality. Spector crisscrossed the country, speaking to the owners of small operations from classic Jewish delis to Southern barbershops to funky Little Havana fruterias, listening to their stories and asking about their secrets to success. The common themes are no surprise: Customer service and a friendly atmosphere are the not-so-secret weapons against corporate competitors. In Dayton, Bill Furst of Furst Florist says, "We don't want to be the largest; we just want to be the best," before asking the author, "When you came through the front door, were you greeted with a smile?"

The stories that Spector has gathered are cheering testimonials to the value of hard work and creative retailing, heartwarming in this day of conglomerates. Despite his good intentions and obvious affection for his subjects, however, the author provides little evidence that these success stories are the norm rather than the exception.

Although Spector breezily begins with the assertion that "after the apocalypse, the only survivors will be cockroaches and mom & pop stores," he doesn't back it up. He offers few clues to how small-business owners can compete with the Wal-Marts or Best Buys, whose prices are kept low by vast economies of scale and whose computerized "just-in-time" inventories and national distribution offer immediate access to nearly limitless items.

Readers who enjoy Capra-esque stories about plucky general merchandising outfits run by colorful individualists will enjoy Spector's book. Those who are looking for a nuts-and-bolts account of how mom and pop stores can thrive in today's chilly retail climate will have to seek it elsewhere.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 13, 2009 ( )

The book is a collection of personal stories, some about the author's family and the rest about the businesses/people he went to visit. Entertaining, but has little to say about big picture. ( )

This was a Firstreads win for me, and unfortunately, the book and I were not a good fit. I was hoping for more than cute stories and wishful thinking, but this book is short on practical advice.

If you're interested in the author's reminiscences about growing up in a family which owned a small store and in stories from "Mom and Pop" retailers across the country, this is the book for you. ( )

This book is equal parts love story (with small business), biography and economics history. While I could see how some of the biographical details could get a little stale and repetitive for some readers, I felt that it really helped frame the nuts and bolts of what it means to be a small shop owner. Spector did a good job of covering small shop owners, in all industries, from across the whole country.

It was interesting to see all of the similarities in all of these family-owned businesses. And how these lessons learned translate into community and a sense of creating a better place. All of the shop owners seemed to share a strong sense of pride in their work their families and for caring for the customer. None of these shop owners are set to take over the world, but you can see how each street is better off for having had that privately owned company there. I don't want to overly-romanticize the impact of all of these small businesses, but they all sure seem to have a clue that the rest of corporate America could use.

Sprinkled throughout all of these family histories and shop stories are economic nuggets and facts. Such as, "shop" is derived from an Old Saxon or German word for "porch", from a time when people sold their wares from the front porches of their homes. It's also fun to read how attitudes towards salesmen and shop owners ebb. Spector quotes Nietzche, "Merchant and pirate were for a long period one and the same person. Even today mercantile morality is really nothing but a refinement of piratical morality."

Even though some of the shop histories and family stories run long and blur in their sameness, this is a book that has stuck with me and one that I will continue to recommend. ( )

The Mom & Pop Store: True Stories from the Heart of America, not only gathers together a vast spectrum of information about retail business in America but also weaves together engaging descriptions of dozens of human relationships forged in the histories of family businesses. I particularly enjoyed the story of the Uyesugi family who grew their jewelry business in California after the dislocation of the Japanese internment camps during WWII. ( )