Many stores on Park Street are family run. While Yosa and I were out doing our field research we noticed that many of the stores owners had their daughters and sons working for them. These kids were very instrumental in the prosperity of their parents’ businesses.  The reason I say this is that in many of the shops we visited the parents did not speak English but rather Spanish. The owners depend upon their sons and daughters to translate for the parents.   On more than one occasion when we visited these stores, we saw kids hanging around with parents and one time a son was filling  in for the father while he was away on a business trip.

We found that some stores started by parents have been taken on by the children inadvertently. One storeowner told us that it was out of respect for his father that he took on the business not because he wanted to. This gentleman is now running a jewelry store on Park Street. When you walk into his store you don’t see that much jewelry for sale or many clients. What is important to note is that there are many jewelry stores on Park Street so there is a lot of competition. I compared this gentleman’s jewelry store to another one up the block. The other store had a wider selection of jewelry and more clients when we visited. The daughter of the second jewelry store owner told us that the father started this business and built a personal connection with his clients. That is why they have been in business for 30 plus years. What this jewelry store seems to do differently than other jewelry stores in the area is running radio advertisements and building a loyal client base. These stores are built from the ground up and bring pride to the family. Thus the kids want to keep these businesses going for these reasons.