I wasn’t familiar with the three entrepreneurs featured in this week’s cover story. But I was intrigued by an email we received last summer suggesting that we tell the story of businesses like these.

A customer of Chi Dao, a tailor and one of the three, wanted to spread the word about her work. He added that there are many small, specialized shops like Dao’s that most people know little about.

Boise writer Harrison Berry accepted the assignment. The Statesman’s Joe Jaszewski, Katherine Jones and Darin Oswald took the photos.

I do most of my shopping in big-box and chain stores. They save me time and money, and they’re open when I’m available to shop, which usually means weekends.

But I appreciate the personal touch of the small-business owner. When I need a part for a broken dryer, I don’t order from an Internet superstore — I go to a local supplier who can recognize the dryer model just by looking at the broken part. When a colleague new to Boise asked me last week if I knew a good mechanic, I was glad to be able to hand him the business card I keep in my wallet for a mom-and-pop repair shop whose work I trust.

Businesses like these are special in a way no chain can be. As Berry writes, most of us have favorite little businesses like these in the communities where we live. May that always be so.

• • •

dstaats@idahostatesman.com. Twitter: @IDS_DavidStaats.