The Kyrgyz enclave inside of Uzbekistan is home to over 1,000 people, but has no post office, no government buildings, no banks, and the only employment opportunities are at a small general store.
Mel's mother worked side by side with her husband running the family's small grocery store, so Mel grew up accepting women as equals, which was unusual in those days.
He works… well, he's kinda stylish, but he works at a grocery store bagging groceries, but he also… it's a small grocery store, so he gets all the leftovers from the bakery.
If you have a small business, or you work for a small business, or if you have a bodega or something like that, and you get pregnant, you say, hey, over here.
These little neighborhood grocery stores were once very popular, but in the last 30 years or so, many of these small stores have disappeared, they've closed.
You would walk maybe four or five blocks down the street and there would be a small grocery store where you could buy things like milk and meat and canned goods.