philly.com:
IN THE MIDST of the most brutal economy since the Depression, Sureya Mohammed, who emigrated from Ethiopia to America 22 years ago in search of a better life, just opened her second Philadelphia grocery store.
A steady flow of neighbors patronizes the Dean Food Market, on Tasker Street near 16th, where the brightly lit aisles offer canned goods, household products, fresh produce and a deli counter featuring what Mohammed assured a reporter are her husband Hakim Gutu’s “best hoagies in Philadelphia.”
When the reporter pointed out the boldness of that statement, coming from someone who has been doing business in South Philly for only three weeks, Mohammed laughed and said, “I am not saying this. His customers are saying this. So, it’s true.”
“I am the manager,” Gutu said proudly, taking a break from crafting his overstuffed hoagies. “She,” he said, smiling at his wife, “is my brain.”
Mohammed is one of three savvy small-business women who, the Daily News discovered, are thriving like “The Little Engine That Could” while big stores – Boscov’s, Circuit City – are going bankrupt.
“Mom-and-pop grocery stores will do OK because they are one of those recession-resistant businesses that offer services you really can’t do without,” said Eustace Kangaju, director of the Small Business Development Center at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
Photo by ralphbijker