By Kim Heung-sook

Dear Mr. O, when I saw you last week, I noticed an unusual lack of spark in your eyes. At first I wondered if anything happened to your beloved wife or precious son. Upon entering your little store, however, I saw your wife standing at the counter and your boy going through the shelves for cookies and biscuits. Both looked fine, though there was a slight shadow on your wife’s face.

It was only last Monday that I found out what had been troubling you and your wife. What used to be an automobile showroom in our neighborhood was going to be turned into a ``My Super” franchise store operated by one of the nation’s largest business conglomerates. Within a couple of days the cars on display were removed, the new signboard with red letters on a white background replaced the auto shop’s name in blue.

Sweltering nights followed but a group of men worked through them, changing the interior of the spacious room into a supermarket, more than ten times bigger than your store. As I passed by the new store the other day, I heard people commenting that the quick opening of ``My Super” demonstrated the trademark efficiency of giant corporations. However, such efficiency doesn’t impress everyone. I, for one, got chills as the hasty opening seemed to reflect the company’s zeal to make money quickly.

I dropped by the supermarket during my nightly stroll yesterday. They were doing business even without the refrigerators or a cooling system yet. The shelves were full of economic bundles of jams, cans and instant noodles, yet green onions and radishes were drying yellow on a deck near the cashier’s counter. I felt sorry for the vegetables being wasted and remembered how affectionately you used to handle them. You always referred to them as if they were your own children and seem to take a great pride in keeping them fresh until some customers was ready to take them home.

If I am asked to compare your store to ``My Super,” I would say yours is a small home where parents and children are happy and love each other, while the other is a rich, unhappy home where children are regarded as furniture. As I was leaving the store, I was solicited to apply for a ``My Super” membership. A smiling employee said there would be ‘huge’ benefits for members, including the mileage system and free delivery. I smiled back to her and said, ``No, thank you.” It was the easiest ``No” I ever said to anyone.

Mr. O, you can’t but be jittery about ``My Super” as your store is the closest to the so-called ``super supermarket (SSM)” of a famous brand. To be frank, I haven’t bought much from your store because there are more than a dozen stores in our area and I have patronized them, too. Since your store is quite near to my house, I would go to yours when I didn’t have much time. When I had time, I would walk a while to one of the many stores. As walking distance varies to each one, so do their merits and demerits and it is fun to decide where to buy what. None of them are operated by a conglomerate and shopping in one of them gives me a sense of contributing to the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr. O, we may have to depend on conglomerates like Samsung and LG for durable goods like cars, televisions and refrigerators, but I believe they should abstain from profit-seeking through retailing of nondurable items like food. Retailing has traditionally been an area for small businesses until such large discount stores as E-mart, GS Mart and Lotte Mart began to encroach on the sector beginning in the 1990s. As you may know, GS Mart was formally absorbed into Lotte Mart last June.

After E-mart and Lotte Mart opened over 190 large branches at almost all the commercial junctures across the nation, where customers could come via their vehicles, they began to set up SSMs, which are smaller than their original stores but are larger than most retailers, in small towns and neighborhoods. No doubt, SSMs have dealt a fatal blow to many small shops.

According to the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business survey last year, 79 percent of the retailers businesses suffered after SSMs appeared in their neighborhoods. Daily customer visits decreased by 37 percent and sales dropped by 34 percent.

Mr. O, I sincerely hope you won’t become a gloomy statistic. I pronounce your store is ``My Super” and I will do the best I can to help you. I will never go to ``My Super.” I will visit your place more frequently. I hope the spark in your eyes will return. Roll up your sleeves and go for ``My Super.” Annoy the giant distributor with your performance and make us small people happy. We are all for you, Mr. O!