The understanding of the management of small business was the motivation to this research developed at São Cristóvão Fair, a Municipal Centre of Northeastern Traditions placed at Rio de Janeiro city, in Brazil, whose formation reflects the social, economic, cultural and political aspects that make up the city and also the country. The research attitude chosen was Ethnomethodology. This, combined with Conversation Analysis, permitted the data be obtained from the environments and the people daily interactions, in a naturalistic way, locally situated. The commercial unit of the Fair from which the study was developed was the China Store, place where were made video recordings, photos, talks, and observations that originated the analysis categories developed in this investigation, related to other spaces of the Fair when relevant. The investigation let to comprehend that internal competition and inequality among enterprises are strong characteristics of the Fair. The study still evidenced that the daily job of a trader responsible for micro and small businesses in this environment, like China, includes the emphasis on physical presence, the constant effort to replace customers, take measures to be independent in some measure from collective structure, few friendship relations and fundamental collaborative relations, besides many moments of sociability. The analysed situations still reflects characteristics of Brazilian society related to hierarchical valuation and the existence of gender issues in dealing between men and women too.