the.com/mom and pop
a business small enough that the owner remembers your name and your dog's
means a small, independently owned business, usually family-run, as opposed to a chain or franchise
from american phrase from early 1900s retail culture, when corner grocers and diners really were literally run by a married couple named on the sign, later becoming shorthand for any tiny independent shop
peak usagephrase usage spiked in census reports post-1970s
legal termsba defines them as under 500 employees
ironymany mom and pops now run by grandkids
for instance
katz's delicatessen — nyc, founded 1888, still family-adjacent ownership
lucille's bbq origin — started as one family smokehouse before chains copied it
corner bodegas nyc — over 10,000 family-run bodegas across the city