Howard County (Map, News) - The closing of Produce Galore after 33 years — the latest small-business casualty in Columbia — has some in the community wondering what can be done to save struggling mom and pop stores.

“We do so much to create incubators for tech firms and so much to give support to big businesses, there must be something we can do to keep from losing all our family owned businesses,” said Del. Elizabeth Bobo, D-Howard.

“It’s what gives the community our unique identity and character.”

Produce Galore in the Wilde Lake village center closed its doors Friday, citing tough economic times and a shift in customer trends away from stores in neighborhood centers.

In a letter on the store’s Web site, owners Margaret and Kent Pendleton wrote, “It is hard to draw the customers away from the big box stores that have surrounded Columbia.”

The closing comes two months after Bun Penny Market & Cafe, a community landmark since 1970, closed because it couldn’t pay the rent at the Columbia Mall.

To protect these stores, Bobo suggested, at least in Produce Galore’s case: What if nonprofits and area businesses were encouraged to have standing orders with the store to offer some stability?

She said state and local governments could be involved in finding ways to save the stores.

“I don’t think it’s melodramatic to say [Produce Galore] was part of the heart and soul of the community,” she said.

Dick Story, head of the county’s Economic Development Authority, said he wasn’t sure what a program to support mom-and-pop stores would look like.

“The dynamics of competition have changed, [and] it’s incumbent upon local businesses to engage the rules of competition as they have changed,” Story said.

The struggle is trying to find ways to reinvent the 40-year-old village centers, said Councilwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, whose district includes parts of Columbia. As landowners and community leaders look to revitalize the centers, opportunities to promote these small businesses exist, she said.

“I hope there’s always a place for independently owned businesses,” she said.

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com