The MOM and POP STORE

                                                          The Mom-and-Pop Store

As a little girl, I used to run errands for my mom. I used to get groceries from the mom-and-pop store two streets away from where we lived. The store was one of the many stores in the marketplace. There were other grocery stores, a saloon, a tailor’s shop, a small shop where a man stood ironing clothes, and a small hotel which attracted young and old alike with its tea and delicious snacks.

The Mom and Pop store was the go-to place for my family, and the owner, Ravi, knew me as I used to visit the store with my father or my mother.

The store was a small one with just enough space for 2 customers to stand next to each other. The shelves in the shop lined the walls from floor to ceiling, and the shop carried everything from rice to lentils to soap bars, biscuits, and matchboxes. Colourful shampoo sachets were hung near the entrance, and these fluttered like little flags in the slightest of breezes.

The store was not special because of the items it carried, but it was because of how it felt. When you walked in, you would be seen. The store was not huge, but big.

Ravi would ask, “ Prepared for your exams, Anita? Study well. Take this chocolate for free, but promise me that you will work hard”.

“ Sam, your regular brand of toothpaste is not available. Try this-it is just as good and cheaper too.”

The customers trusted them because Ravi cared.

The store opened at eight in the morning and was closed at nine in the evening. There would be a short break for lunch as well, where the shop would be closed from one in the afternoon to four in the evening. It was in an age when life was slow.

It became our go to place as my mom was sure that she would get the items she needed and  because the owner knew me well and would wait patiently till I counted the change he had given me and till I was ready to go home with the grocery items-he would pack the items neatly and would arrange them in the bag so that I could carry it easily-and the money that I had got back from him. It was where I practised adding and subtracting!

People would come to the mom-and-pop store each evening after their office hours to make purchases. Ravi would greet each one of them and enquire about their health and about their family members.

They would sit on the wooden bench placed outside the store till their order was ready. The conversation would then go on and would be joined by others. Prices of commodities, the weather, politics, and almost everything under the sun would be discussed. Ravi would continue attending to the customers and chipping in between conversations.  He was quite efficient in his work. He would note down the items required by each customer on a pad and pack the items accordingly. Kids would come to the shop and hand over the list given to them by their parents. He would be mindful in attending to the customers in the order they had come.

Ravi had customers who paid for the items as soon as they made the purchase, and then there were others who took it on credit. They used to pay when their salary was credited or when they had enough. He was polite in his dealings, and his general demeanour exuded pleasantness. His personal touch made us feel ‘ Customer is certainly the King’.

It was just a wish that life would pause there. But time goes on and brings about changes- a few pleasing ones and a few that jolt us.

Life in the small town had changed, too. A change that nobody could ignore. A supermarket opened two streets away from this market.

It was bright, modern, and air-conditioned. There were wide aisles, the carts were new and shiny, and the offers provided on grocery items were impossible to compete with.

People in our neighbourhood were excited.

“Have you been there?” they asked. “There are so many options and all under one roof!”

For the first time, the mom-and-pop store felt small-very small. There was a slow but unmistakable change. The evenings at the mom-and-pop store became quieter.

Ravi found himself sitting longer than standing.

One day, Ravi had waited for customers all morning, and when none had turned up, he felt dejected and closed the store. He went home and said quietly to his wife, Radha, ” Maybe this store’s time is up.”

Radha looked at him steadily and said, “ The store is not just a business. It is our life”. There was a heavy silence after these words.

That night, Radha could not sleep. She knew that there must be some way out and thought long and hard. She knew that it was not just a store, but it was a place Ravi had built where people belonged, and no supermarket could replace this.

The next day, she accompanied Ravi to the store, cleaned the shop, and rearranged the items.

Ravi was confused as he watched her and asked,” What is all this?”

She said,” We are not closing.”

As an answer to his frown, she said,” We are changing.”

They started keeping a stock of things that were not available in the supermarket-the spices locally ground by women, home-made snacks, and some pickles that were a local speciality.

Ravi used his scooter to provide home delivery of items.

Radha kept track of the elderly customers who could not step out and made sure they got what they needed. They had understood that the key lies in being different and not in competing.

Gradually, a few of the old customers began to return. There were not many, but there were just enough to keep the store running. That was enough to remind them that what they had mattered.

Their son Arun, who attended college, suggested that the store could have an app. Ravi and Radha looked at each other, and their faces were blank. Arun explained how it would work. He told them about online orders, its uses for the customers and for them even. And this way, the store stepped into the future while keeping its soul intact.

It was still the Mom-and-Pop store for the customers. The ones who knew it well, it was something more. It was a place where people were remembered, where small kindness mattered, and it was a place where two people chose to stay small, yet meaningful, even as the world around was rushing by for the bigger and the faster.

And quietly, it made a difference.