$eeds for Change: The Retail Pricing Survival Guide

CHALLENGES FACING THE INDEPENDENT RETAILER It happened to your corner family store. You know, the establishment that provided personal credit, delivered the groceries right to your door, and gave you better value for your dollar. These stores had better selection and always seemed to know what you were looking for. Those were the days when owners, employees and customers had time and opportunity to build personal relationships along with business relationships. Everyone knew each other by name. Not long ago, "the family hardware store" and the "Mom and Pop diner" suffered irrevocable changes that led to their demise and today the family store faces similar challenges. Good service, good value and friendliness will not save them. Perhaps future generations will lament the decline of family business in America. In any case, many children of these "Mom and Pop" outfits did not want anything to do with the "Mom and Pop lifestyle." Who really wants to work sixteen hours a day, for seven days a week? Besides, the land where the family business was situated became very valuable, so they sold that valuable land, bought a lovely home in the suburbs and lived happily ever after. But that's another story.