My number one grocery store in this entire city has been family owned and operated for the last 50 years! I don’t have anything against big chain corporations, however they just cannot replicate the personal touch of a locally owned business! For instance, our number one grocery store will stock nearly any item I ask them to. When egg prices shot up by at least 60% nationwide, I asked our local grocery store to stock the imitation egg products. While they’re not the exact same thing as having real eggs, I’d much rather pay less to get something similar. In addition to the imitation egg products, this grocery store also started stocking a particular brand of pork tenderloins when I made the personal request. Other grocery store chains will tell you that there’s nothing they can do if the parent contractor isn’t stocking their stores with the products you want. As far as other family owned businesses are upset, I’m also a large fan of our HVAC contractor. This contractor is run by the grandson of the original founder and they have some of the best reviews on the internet out of all the companies in our county that labor with HVAC equipment. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get immediate HVAC maintenance because they had to close down their shop this month for repairs and remodeling. While I’m not blissful about waiting on maintenance for 6 days, I understand that the HVAC contractor has to deal with their own overhead from time to time. At least they’re willing to give me the best services at the best prices.