mom-and-pop

[mom-uhn-pop]

adjective

1. of or relating to a small retail business, usually owned and operated by members of a family.

   a mom-and-pop grocery.

2. of or indicating something, as an enterprise, investment, or project, that is independent, small in scope, and modestly financed.

noun

plural

mom-and-pops 

1. a small-scale, owner-operated business.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mom-and-pop¹

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55

Example Sentences

"There are a ton of mom-and-pop shops in Ukraine where people are making drones and assembling them in their apartments, in their garages and donating them to the forces. They've become the go-to weapon for the Ukrainians."

Read more on BBC

The street was alive with Armenian markets and mom-and-pop bakeries.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Shailendra Singh, managing director of PeakXV Partners - a global venture capital firm which has some $9bn invested across several high-profile Indian start-ups including Groww and Pine Labs - attributes the robust demand for these IPOs to better regulation and a wider diversity of participants, including small mom-and-pop investors, mutual funds and insurers, pumping money into India's equity markets.

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Today, Drizzle is sold in about 20 mom-and-pop stores across New Jersey and New York.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Steak House” arrived right on time to capture some of the country’s best mom-and-pop operations.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• corporation 
• factory 
• firm 
• house 
• institution 
• market 
• organization 
• partnership 
• shop 
• store 
• venture