CONVENIENCE FADING AT SMALL STORES : MOM-AND-POP GROCERS SQUEEZED BY SUPERMARKET CHAINS, SHOPLIFTERS.

Byline: Associated Press 

Supermarkets are draining off their customers and some customers are draining their profits.

Small markets, the only drop of commercial life left in many of the city's roughest neighborhoods, are bleeding to death along with the hopes of hundreds of moms and pops.

Many of the shopkeepers are recent immigrants who watch their life savings turn into the American nightmare of a dead-end job. A few crack under the strain.

Jo Wong Kim was charged with murder Monday after police alleged he shot a 17-year-old girl to death outside his Highland Park market. Kim apparently thought the girl's friends had stolen something before he followed them out of the store with a pistol, police said.

The Korean immigrant, who averaged $20 a day in profits and was trying to sell the store, ``just snapped,'' his wife suggested.

Grocers across the city said there was no excuse for that sort of violence. But many understood the pressure that could lead to it.

``Troublemakers can drive you crazy in this business,'' said Kenneth Lee, who has run a grocery store in the Westlake district for 10 years. ``This is a penny business. Our earnings come in pennies and nickels. That's why every bottle of Coke or beer we sell matters.''

Convenience stores are ``obsolete,'' according to experts like Linda Griego, president of Rebuild LA, the agency created after the 1992 riots.

Customers want malls and super stores with ``one-stop'' shopping for people in cars, said Griego, who once ran a small Mexican deli. But the longing for a business of one's own is a persistent dream, she said, sometimes leading to shaky investments.

``It's extremely tougher than I thought,'' said George Washington, who started a South Central store last year. The working hours for owner-operators run from 10 to 18 hours a day.

While the number of small markets nationwide has grown in the past 10 years, earnings have been decreasing annually since 1985, according to statistics from trade publications Progressive Grocers Marketscope and Marketing Guide.

``Those big markets, they buy by the thousands. You buy a thing at 49 cents, how are you going to sell it for 29 cents? Better have a big business or nothing,'' said Gladys Cuellar, who runs a tiny market on a desolate stretch of Sunset Boulevard.

Teen-agers, especially minorities, are as likely to complain about shopkeepers' rudeness as shopkeepers are to complain about stealing. But Paul Singh, who greets customers politely at his east Hollywood market, said incidents like a recent shoplifting case get him down.

Two boys, both under 6, said they were 15 cents short for a cookie. As Singh agreed to a discount, they stuffed their pockets with candy bars and gum. He caught them with $2 worth.

``You have to sell $20, $25 worth of stuff to make up those $2,'' Singh said. ``We have to keep our eyes open all the time.''