Tag Archives: Park Street

Father and Son Relations

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.

Learning Business in the Family

We went to Park Street in Frog Hollow of Hartford to interview a woman and her son.  The woman, owns a party supply business.  She moved to Hartford from Puerto Rico and started this store because there was a demand for the items she sells and no supply nearby.  She sells everything you could think of that one would need for a party–be it a wedding, a baby shower, or a quinceañera (15th birthday celebration in Hispanic Culture).

She began her business without borrowing money or taking loans, just using capital she had acquired from her previous jobs. This is an important note for future business owners, as it proves that taking out heavy loans is not always necessary to have a successful business. She did say, however, that she felt support from the Spanish American Merchants Association that operates in Hartford, as she took courses that helped her in her startup.

Her son, born in Hartford, worked for her when he was younger–for  about 14 years.  He gained a lot of business experience from her, and decided to open up his own clothing business.  Like many business owners, the idea of having ones own business was attractive because he could be his own boss and not have a salary cap. Starting as a street vendor with 100 dollars in his pocket, he built a customer base in the area.

His business soon flourished enough for him to get a space on Park Street just a block away from his mother’s business.  He likes Park Street because there is a lot of demand for his product–clothing and some accessories such as hats.  There is also a lot of foot traffic in the area, so he said it was an ideal place to open a business.

His mother’s advice to prospective business owners was two fold, both practical and personal. She encouraged good treatment of customers to build a solid clientele base, citing that “that’s why I’ve been here for 26 years!” On a more personal level, she advised people to ensure that business ownership was a field they really want to get into before they made the decision to begin a business.