Ben Franklin store closes doors after 47 years
Big box stores, the Internet blamed on dwindling customer base at local Mom & Pop store
By THOMAS MICHALSKI
Article published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
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| Photo by THOMAS MICHALSKI |
| Alice Sterling, left, and her daughter, Debbie Jung, bag a customer’s special order. |
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PINELLAS PARK – The Ben Franklin Store, a fixture in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park for decades, is closing its doors due to lack of business caused by big box stores and the Internet.
“We just cannot compete any longer,” Alice Sterling, owner, said. “Wal-Mart and other big stores along with the Internet are putting the little guys out of business.”
The store at 7670 49th St. still carries everything from spools of thread to glassware to clothing. Even in its dwindling weeks, Sterling still is accepting special customer orders for such things as bulk cloth and other difficult-to-find items.
She expects the last day to be sometime in June, though an exact date has not yet been set.
Along the now sparsely-stocked shelves one can still find plastic beach toys, sunglasses, bathing suits and all the other goods that old-fashioned stores such as Ben Franklin based their success on.
People today, however, seem not to be interested in personal service. They want lower prices and in-and-out Wal-Mart and Target box stores that offer little in customer service and small-profit items that made the Mom and Pop operations so successful years ago.
The days of establishments such as Ben Franklin, Newberry’s and F.W. Woolworth have gone the way of drive-in movies and ice cream shoppes.
“We small business people can’t compete any longer,” Sterling said.
She’s right, of course. Just try buying a hair net or straight pins at a big store without having to wade through thousands of other items.
“We listened to our customers,” Sterling said. “We took their special orders and we filled them. “We knew how to take care of the people.”
The Massachusetts-born merchant moved to Florida with her family at age 13. Her first experience in business was working at a five and dime store. She eventually joined the owners of the same store she now owns. Her daughter, Debbie Jung, started work in the store’s post office substation and still works with her mother.
“It will hurt having to close down,” Sterling said. “I put my life into this place and I will miss our many loyal customers.”
At 74 Sterling has no plans to retire.
“I cant just sit around and do nothing,” Sterling said. “I have to find something to do.”
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Article published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
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