Take the "Only Buy at local Austin Businesses" oath.....help keep 'em open during these hard times! (Houston: house, neighborhoods)

[kiacook]

I don't patronize locally-owned businesses out of pity. I think there's something that free-marketers don't take into consideration - I patronize local businesses because they're unique, I appreciate that and want to encourage that with my $. I don't like every town to be exactly the same with exactly the same businesses with exactly the same strip malls and shopping centers. I want variety and a local experience. When Inthecut points out that locally-owned businesses are harder hit and need to be remembered and supported now, I don't know if he's worried about the owners and their kids and is saying to support them out of "pity", but for me, losing local businesses would be bad for me because I would miss the variety they bring.

So, yeah, there's service and price and convenience to take into account, but when choosing businesses to go to, I also take into account vibe or ambience and I like a local, unique feel and don't want that to disappear.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by kiacook

I don't patronize locally-owned businesses out of pity. I think there's something that free-marketers don't take into consideration - I patronize local businesses because they're unique, I appreciate that and want to encourage that with my $. I don't like every town to be exactly the same with exactly the same businesses with exactly the same strip malls and shopping centers. I want variety and a local experience. When Inthecut points out that locally-owned businesses are harder hit and need to be remembered and supported now, I don't know if he's worried about the owners and their kids and is saying to support them out of "pity", but for me, losing local businesses would be bad for me because I would miss the variety they bring.

So, yeah, there's service and price and convenience to take into account, but when choosing businesses to go to, I also take into account vibe or ambience and I like a local, unique feel and don't want that to disappear.

Very well said - reps to you!

IF a local business is slightly more expensive (and that's where you would be doing your homework rather than assuming that they are), consider that what you're buying is not just the item - you're buying the community you live in and what it will be like.

[ATXIronHorse]

Originally Posted by inthecut

I think one statement settles this once and for all....

The only thing separating Austin from Dallas/FW and Houston is the eclectic small biz atmoshere and vibe..take that away and you HAVE Dallas and Houston....just a smaller version of the same....The only reason one would relocate to Austin as opposed to those two other cities with far larger job opportunites and pay is atmosphere and vibe.....

Do Home Depot, Target, and Super Wal-Mart contribute to that vibe?

I'll let you folks mull that one over...

You got a point there. Aside from Lamar, S. Congress, downtown and a few other isolated areas, most businesses in Austin are chain-owned.

But who can be surprised when they thrive? Wal-Mart, for example, has everything in one location, is cheap and highly convenient, with ample parking, etc.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by ATXIronHorse

You got a point there. Aside from Lamar, S. Congress, downtown and a few other isolated areas, most businesses in Austin are chain-owned.

But who can be surprised when they thrive? Wal-Mart, for example, has everything in one location, is cheap and highly convenient, with ample parking, etc.

I disagree with your first paragraph - those may be the places where there are local businesses all right in one place, but there are local businesses all over Austin and the Austin area.

But your second paragraph, in context with the first one, makes something clear. It's the convenience factor - we (well, some of us) want to have everything right there so we don't have to make an effort to search out the local, more unique, offerings, and so that overrides shopping local unless it's in one of the areas where we can buy it all at the same place and we don't have to actually look for alternatives. In that case, places like Walmart (and I do shop at Walmart for some things), catering to the lowest common denominator, will win every time.

[Trainwreck20]

catering to the lowest common denominator

I am not a Wal-mart shopper for a variety of reasons, but calling their market the 'lowest common denominator' is kind of misleading, imho. The concept is fantastic and their concept of being able to get all your 'typical' things at one place is not really a lowest denominator. How much time and gas is saved by buying things at one place? The negative for me is not the concept at all.

Also, for me, shopping is almost always in the 'chore' category, not an activity that I want to spend time optimizing between a variety of places on purpose. I have 'x' number of hours in my life, and driving up to Breed and Co is just not an efficient use of some of those hours (not to mention that the extra driving subtracts of some statistical number of hours). But the assumption that Wal-Mart or Target or whatever is always the easiest is not necessarily true, either. Many of the stores that are close to me are actually local (sorry, I also consider HEB local) stores or chains. But anyway, convienience in of itself is not a bad word

[TexasHorseLady]

By "lowest common denominator", I meant that Walmart provides the items that will be purchased by the largest number of people, nothing more. That's their target market, after all.

I'd love to go to Breed and Co. regularly, but that would be a 50 mile trip one way. However, there are local hardware stores that are MUCH closer (until the fire recently, there was one 3 miles from my house, which considering my drive is a quarter mile long, isn't all that far, and it's being rebuilt as we type). The Walmart and Home Depot, on the other hand, are 15 miles from my house. (They're right next to each other.)

My point was that if you think the only "local" shopping that is available is SoCo and such, you're just not looking close enough to home because of the illusion of convenience of the Big Box stores.

[Schnaiy]

TexasHorseLady (quoted me and added)This isn't entirely true.

Please, you obviously had a different approach to when/how/where you introduced your children to restaurant dining (and I was referring to restaurants who have waiting staff...beginning with the basic ones like Dennys - not McDonalds, those are fast food service (no waitress) restaurants and in an entirely different category)! These posts actually were in response to JennyBC who had shared her view about the service in mom and pop restaurants, in particular "attitude" of a waiter rolling his eyes after she asked a question about the menu. And she also added she was more comfortable taking her children to Denny's than a nice restaurant (for the sake of the other patrons) until they were older.

How I stated I trained my children for restaurant dining is entirely true. You absolutely have the right to disagree with my approach, but not to say that my approach is "not entirely true". Several people have stated here how they approached introducing children to dining out, are you going to tell each one of them because you don't agree with it, that it "is not entirely true"?

[Schnaiy]

Texashorselady I agree with you about the illusion of convenience of Big Box stores. If one lives in suburbia where the little hardware store no longer exists, then it's no longer a choice decision, one only has the likes of Walmart etc. It isn't a convenience at all during peak times, in the 100+ deg. heat, parking what seems like half a mile away (the closest park in their overcrowded parking lot) to then endure the bustling crowd of shoppers within the store. Today, we value time, it is increasingly more difficult to just "pop into" a Walmart to grab a couple of times and leave without wasting at least 30 minutes (by the time you calculate the time spent trying to find a park, walking to the store, walking within the store to find the items you need, standing in a long line (even for self-service), walking back out to your car - and hopefully you remember which aisle you parked in or you can add another five minutes looking for it! In contrast, I can easily shop at my local stores, be in and out in less than five minutes on my way to or from home. Now that is convenience! Plus my stress level remains "calm". Holiday times are when I make a conscious decision to avoid the Big Box Stores altogether, my blood pressure just can't handle it!

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Schnaiy

TexasHorseLady (quoted me and added)This isn't entirely true.

Please, you obviously had a different approach to when/how/where you introduced your children to restaurant dining (and I was referring to restaurants who have waiting staff...beginning with the basic ones like Dennys - not McDonalds, those are fast food service (no waitress) restaurants and in an entirely different category)! These posts actually were in response to JennyBC who had shared her view about the service in mom and pop restaurants, in particular "attitude" of a waiter rolling his eyes after she asked a question about the menu. And she also added she was more comfortable taking her children to Denny's than a nice restaurant (for the sake of the other patrons) until they were older.

How I stated I trained my children for restaurant dining is entirely true. You absolutely have the right to disagree with my approach, but not to say that my approach is "not entirely true". Several people have stated here how they approached introducing children to dining out, are you going to tell each one of them because you don't agree with it, that it "is not entirely true"?

Sorry, my wording was perhaps not entirely clear. What wasn't entirely true was the idea (your statemente) that children can't learn restaurant manners while there are other little hellions running wild and getting away with behavior that is inappropriate anywhere, McDonald's or otherwise. As evidence, my children managed it in McDonald's (the ultimate test, in my opinion, and one reason I started there, besides consideration for fellow diners who might expect a meltdown in McD's, but certainly shouldn't be subjected to it elsewhere - we also went in the middle of the day when the only other patrons were mothers and young children so we were all in it together).

I'd never claim that your description of how you raised your children to be civilized in restaurants was untrue, nor would I disagree with it in the general, especially since it was pretty similar to what I did. Mycomment was regarding the one point clarified above. (This is what I get for posting and working on accounting at the same time.)

[Schnaiy]

Thanks for the clarification, I see your point now.

Social and Observational learning is very powerful - we may not be aware we've been influenced psychologically and behaviorally by what we observe but there's been many studies on this topic. Bandura's Bobo Doll experiments in the 1960s lead to the development of Social and Observational learning theory.

This is why I made the statement, that I would not take my children to restaurants where they would see other children behaving badly until I had at least instilled in them the right and wrong way to behave (children need to be able to rehearse desired modelled behaviors, which I suggested is best done in a controlled environment like one's home). It's also extremely difficult to keep a child's attention in a noisy environment, certainly not a good training ground! Not a good idea to try teaching in this type of environment.

Below is a link for further information about this learning theory.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/37/bb/33.pdf (broken link)