Here's an interesting New York Times story on the decline of the city's Korean grocers -- once a ubiquitous staple of New York City life, whose numbers are now on the wane, due to a number of factors facing these mom-and-pop operations: A New York Staple, Korean Grocers Are Dwindling.
Koreans still dominate the small-grocery business in New York; the Korean Produce Association estimates that they own 70 percent of the city's stores. But their ranks are thinning as they face the same forces that threaten all sorts of mom-and-pop businesses: rising rents, increased competition from online and corporate rivals, and more scrutiny from city agencies that impose fines.That last part is pretty interesting. So many immigrants shelve their own dreams to toil away in retail and service jobs so that their children will have the opportunities that lead to a better life. So what happens when their kids actually attain that better life? It seems unlikely that the grocery -- a means to an end -- would stay in the family forever.
The stores are also succumbing to the same impulse that prompted Mom and Pop to open them in the first place: the desire to see their children do much, much better.
Despite his pride in his family's enterprise, Mr. Han, 42, is adamant that his two teenage sons not take up the business. "When they get bad grades, my wife says, 'You want to work in a fruit store all your life?'" he said.
