This Sunday was Mom and Pop Business Owners Day, celebrating the enormous but often overlooked role family-owned businesses play in America and in the daily life of our communities. These companies are a massive engine for our society, employing approximately 83 million people in the U.S.—more than half of the private workforce.
Whether they operate on Main Street or online, the most successful family businesses share a common approach: they lean into the community and develop an authentic experience that speaks to their values.
That genuineness works. According to 2025’s Annual Family Business Survey, family-owned businesses tend to last 20 years or more and over 70% have employees that last for generations.
Mom and Pop Shops Pioneered Experiential Retail
NetChoice has frequently documented the retail industry’s explosive shift to experiences, which in many ways has become a buzzword. But mom and pop businesses pioneered this trend long before it had a name. Local bookstores hosted author readings, neighborhood coffee shops organized live music nights and boutiques offered “sip and shop” events.
Consumers today can buy almost anything online, and yet, as the National Retail Federation noted earlier this year at Big Show 2026, brick-and-mortar retail sales are still the largest part of the total retail sector. People still crave those moments of discovery and human connection.
Small businesses are uniquely positioned to deliver this. Unlike large chains, they have the flexibility to experiment quickly. They can host an event on short notice or collaborate with other businesses in ways that would require months of corporate approval for larger brands. With nearly two-thirds of Americans now valuing experiences over products, that insight has become a powerful competitive advantage for mom and pop shops.
Turning Stores Into Community Hubs
One powerful advantage mom and pop businesses have is their ability to serve as community anchors. In neighborhood shops, owners and employees learn regulars by name. They partner with local schools to host fundraisers or with charities to support community initiatives and events. When a community thrives, local businesses do, too; their success is intertwined.
Here are some unique community activations from mom and pop shops around the country:
- Glowe Apothecary hosting a neighborhood block party in Mississippi.
- White Peony Boutique in Minnesota hosting a street market.
- The Book Lounge, owned by a college student and her mother, hosting community game nights in St. Petersburg, Florida.
- The Store Bar and Grill, local Connecticut restaurant, hosting a charity chicken wing festival.
- Cool Cat Collective, a Long Beach, California, boutique, hosting silent reading nights with foster cats up for adoption.
Online Mom and Pop Sellers
While many people still associate mom and pop businesses with brick-and-mortar storefronts on Main Street, they are thriving in online spaces, too.
Today, family-run businesses sell handmade goods, specialty products and niche items through digital marketplaces and their own websites, reaching customers far beyond their local neighborhoods. Stores like Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, Target and Shopify have lowered the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs, helping small sellers to launch all of part of their business online from their homes, garages, or existing physical storefronts. For example, small and independent sellers account for more than 60 percent of sales in the Amazon store, underscoring just how significant these businesses have become in the digital economy.
Much like their brick-and-mortar counterparts, successful online mom and pop businesses compete on specialization and authenticity. Many offer handcrafted products defined by quality and a sense of community connection that is difficult to replicate, even when selling largely online.
For example, Hearth and Homestead is a Virginia family-owned skincare company specializing in tallow-based products they sell on Amazon. They donate care boxes filled with their products to women that are at-risk and struggling while pregnant and postpartum. Hawaiian Shaved Ice, a family-owned business that joined Amazon’s store in the early 2000s, has since grown into a thriving multi-national enterprise. Liberty Tabletop is a flatware brand that mainly sells online and supports its local college baseball summer league in New York.
The Next Generation
Mom and Pop Business Owners Day is a reminder that family-owned companies are the backbone of America, and they continue to shape the character, resilience and economic vitality of communities across the country.
Image via Unsplash.