This is truly a cause for mourning! So sorry! That excited feeling when you pull in to a great owner-operated (o-o) store, when you can see there's tons of great plants, spilled out into the landscape and decorative pots that aren't even for sale, and you know they're going to have something interesting you don't have yet, just can't be matched by any BBS.
When o-o stores try to compete with the exact same items at higher prices, it's rarely going to work. Pls don't misunderstand me, I've been "preaching" the dangers of BBS's for decades and pleading with people to shop at o-o stores, at least look there first, but, as said, there has to be a reason, an added value for the higher price.
Why more of them haven't concentrated mostly on plants that can't be found at BBS's is a huge mystery. Few are going to buy the exact same thing at a higher price, regardless of the level of service, but many will spend more for something different. When I lived in OH, (and both before & after BBSs were a major source for plants,) I loved visiting the diff o-o stores because they were all different, with different plants. And at most of them, the owner was there, working, answering questions, as in love with plants as anybody who might shop there. There were few houseplants/tropicals-only stores by the time I left OH almost 10 yrs ago.
Another issue o-o stores of all types have is often hours of operation. If they're only open when people with jobs are at work, that's rarely going to work either. It's hard to keep a business open if you can only sell things to the unemployed/retired/self-employed/home-makers/on disability. If you've got a habit to support, you can't take off work to shop! LOL!
