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I keep seeing shopping come up in threads about moving to rural areas. Maybe I'm too set in my ways, but I rarely need anything I can't find at the supermarket, NAPA or the Farmer's Co-op. There's a Wal-Mart about 20 miles away. I was in it about 5 years ago, but my local membership discount store started stocking 5 quart jugs of motor oil, which was the only thing I bought there. Costco is just a little farther, but I let my membership lapse after I bought hearing aids and glasses the last time. I also bought about 20 LED light bulbs there. My local big box supermarket has prices as good as Costco with a better selection, so I'm not tempted to buy pallet loads of toilet paper. If I can't find something in town, I just buy it on the internet. I bought a tractor 12 years ago. How many tractors do you need?
Is shopping really so important to people that they have to seek out places to spend money?
Yeah, I agree it's odd; If I buy something it's because I need it, rarely do I buy something because I want it.
With that said I'm also a believer in bulk buying, so if I need something I can't find locally it's not a big deal, just make a big trip out and buy in bulk.
That's just country life, most aren't used to it I guess..
I think there are a great number of people who go all-in for image/appearance and thus must have the newest/latest/greatest. People buying stuff they don't need to try and get a reaction from someone Else.
I'm with you 2, I buy what I *need*, sometimes I'll splurge a little and get something a little nicer/higher quality to scratch the "want" itch. There's very little I need anymore though, and much less that I want.
Is shopping really so important to people that they have to seek out places to spend money?
I worked in retail for 8 Xmas seasons, the last one on Thanksgiving morning at 6 AM during the meeting the manager said this is a sport to these people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M
I think there are a great number of people who go all-in for image/appearance and thus must have the newest/latest/greatest. People buying stuff they don't need to try and get a reaction from someone Else.
Big city people have that tendency, when the $500 coach handbag goes out of style it has to be replaced with a $500 MK Ultra handbag and a $150 pair of matching shoes.
A lot of it is that people coming from more urban areas to rural ones have no clue about the rhythms of rural life, that's why they complain so much once they move there. No one told them about tractors on the roads, dust from plowing, hunting season, etc. What they know comes from Deliverance and Norman Rockwell paintings.
I crack up at the posts asking for diverse, non-religious, convenient rural towns with shopping and restaurant experiences. And they also want weekly "festivals" showcasing their new home town./
They think the old guys at the gas station drinking coffee at 6AM are vagrants or homeless, that the people they see dressed in orange are gun crazed mass shooters, that the volunteer firemen are just stealing money from the donations (which they don't give because they think fire service is tax funded like it was with the paid companies where they came from).
Here they think the workboats should look like the slip queens they own at the marina.
"No one told them about tractors on the roads, dust from plowing, hunting season, etc. What they know comes from Deliverance and Norman Rockwell paintings."
Too true. I love country "traffic jams" of three cars behind a tractor. One of the things that makes me feel the best about America is driving behind a couple of the giant combines that easily use over a lane and a half, with the driver sitting at second story level. To me, THAT is patriotic. People growing and harvesting food and cotton here at home, doing so without fanfare or political nonsense, just fully supporting the nation. I would rather see a few of those at work than any parade.
I always ask what the obsession is around here with mudding, hunting and fishing? I suppose it's a cultural trait or a biological trait, similar to how women are attracted to "badasses" ... why do so many men love sports when I hardly watch them? Why do some people feel the need to travel all over and visit 20 different countries? Does it matter? Find someone who vibes with your likes and don't try to change people who don't.
If you grew up rural, two constants in life used to be the Montgomery Ward Catalog and the Sears Roebuck catalog. It's how you lived when local stores didn't stock what you wanted. Radio Shack used to have a mail order catalog too. Now Sears has merged with KMart, Wards is gone, and I don't know that Radio Shack even bothers to try to sell mail order. How did these pillars of American retail crumple in the face of Amazon?
A lot of it is that people coming from more urban areas to rural ones have no clue about the rhythms of rural life, that's why they complain so much once they move there. No one told them about tractors on the roads, dust from plowing, hunting season, etc. What they know comes from Deliverance and Norman Rockwell paintings.
I crack up at the posts asking for diverse, non-religious, convenient rural towns with shopping and restaurant experiences. And they also want weekly "festivals" showcasing their new home town./
They think the old guys at the gas station drinking coffee at 6AM are vagrants or homeless, that the people they see dressed in orange are gun crazed mass shooters, that the volunteer firemen are just stealing money from the donations (which they don't give because they think fire service is tax funded like it was with the paid companies where they came from).
Here they think the workboats should look like the slip queens they own at the marina.
ROFL! Around here, the old guys meet up at Karen's Coffee Cup or The Sportsman, two family owned restaurants where you can still get free refills on your coffee. A table full of old guys in work shirts, suspenders and worn boots at 6 AM can easily represent 8 or 9 digits worth of property and resources.
Our VFDs have their own taxing districts, but are having a tough time finding volunteers. People are more insular than they used to be. In the small town where I went to high school, the Valley Women's Club held a pancake breakfast every year and saved enough money to build a branch library in town. Now they are thinking about giving up the pancake breakfast because they can't find enough people to work it.
Shopping is not important to my husband and me, especially with online and phone ordering available. Grocery shopping, yes, but that doesn't sound like the question's subject.
It was easy for us to move from suburban areas with shopping within a few minutes' drive, to a place where shopping was half an hour away. Then after the last move, we got nearby in-town small stores and groceries but big box/mall shopping is a minimum of 45 minutes away.
And that is just fine! When we next move farther from shopping, it will be NO big deal. The malls can be more than two hours away and I won't care.
Groceries, hardware store, library, gas station, and at least one restaurant...within about 15 miles...would be plenty for us.
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