When the local hardware store doesn’t have the carving set that he needs in the episode “At the Giant Mall” of the animated show “The Berenstain Bears,” Papa Bear and the family head to the new Big Bear Mall to visit the specialty hardware. Not listening to Mama Bears’ mall rules, Papa roams the mall only to end up at the lost cubs station. Deciding he’d rather go home than find the specialty hardware store, Mama points out that the store is only a few spots away from where they are.
Luckily for today’s specialty shoppers, the presence of specialty grocery sets like natural and organic retailers is much easier for shoppers to find. And while other retailers are seeing inflation impact spending, it has not had the same effect on specialty retailers, experts note.