We recently bought a new front door, and every time we were in the small shop, it was either the owner or his teenage son. And that's not new. I grew up in a small town and it was very common in small restaurants, hardware stores, etc. to see the owner, their husband/wife, and kids working there. Often the family members didn't draw a wage, they just helped because they had to in order to make ends meet. Now days, I suspect it's just as much about competing with the large chains since they often can't get the purchasing discounts the large stores get and can't afford to compete with the wages some of the big box stores pay. You can get away with a lot more (including losing money in order to drive out competitors) at larger scale.