Buy from national chain store or shop local. (renting, unemployment)

[Radical347]

I go with whoever provides the best product/service at the best prices. As a general rule I find for food/produce, it's almost always local stores/restaurants/farmers markets, because it makes sense for these things to be sourced locally when fresh and not pay for additional costs i.e. transportation, but for consumer goods where 99% of everything is standardized and/or made in China, chains usually take the cake.

If it's a wash I go local, but if a particular local business is crappy (or even underpar) and I can get it better at a chain, I'm going with the chain.

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

This doesn't make any sense. You act like working in a big box retail store is some kind of indentured servitude. People are free to leave if they wish. Students work jobs like that and then move on to other careers. My company actually does tuition reimbursement even for part-timers (I wouldn't be eligible for this unless my company goes into the medical field).

You don't think that you're dramatizing this just a teeny bit? Seriously, things aren't nearly as dire as you make them out to be. I agree that local business owners are a critical part of any community let alone contributing to keeping a strong middle class, but like any other business, you had better give me a good reason to buy from you.

If you want to get angry over something, get pissed at the tax breaks (crony capitalism) used to bring these eyesores into a given community.

How many students do you see at wallmart? Sure some, but the vast majority are like Feretkona's relatives yes?

Yes, people can leave those type of jobs if they wish, but we both know many do not they are stuck in that "class" of work... It is hard for most to make scary changes in their lives, they can not afford or unable/unwilling to get retrained to something else if that something else even exists in their community..

Sure, I am a passionate about life person... So what I say may be a bit dramatic for some...

I only speak for myself, while I never worked for a "chain", I did bail on the "real world" nearly a decade ago.... Self employment has been a wonderful experience.... Not necessarily that profitable, but lets just leave it as a freeing kind of experience... So my dramatic response, is because this subject hits close to home for me.... I live it and love it!....

No don't like the crony capitalism either, the promise of good for a community that is rarely delivered... Sure that is part of it, but prefer to focus on the positive aspect of the satisfaction of a sense of a working community, where everyone relies on their neighbor... At my point in life, it is far more valuable to take part in a functioning community than make the maximum profit, or get the lowest sale price on everything.. For me going to the local barber, and paying a couple $1 more for a better hair cut and better conversation is worth it.... Of course I do not advocate getting ripped by some greedy folks local or not! Let them starve....

A dreamer I may be... But to help bring back meaning to words, like honest, trustworthy, and fair has a value beyond $$

[eccotecc]

You have no idea how many times people in our community have been helped by first contacting the local hardware store. A person goes in looking for something but they don't have it. But, they know a couple local tradesmen who might. So the hardware store owner gives them a call and asks if they do. Usually after the second call you have what you need. You go to this guy's location, visit for a half an hour, make a new friend and when it's time to transact business you ask how much. The answer is usually I paid this much or its just take it.

If you need a plumber, painter, carpenter, whatever, if you deal locally the hardware store owner takes pride in referring you to the best.

That's what doing business locally is all about, neighbor helping neighbor.

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by eccotecc

ferretkona,

Did I read you correctly? Did I actually see you write that WalMart is mining for gold in Columbia? That must be quite an insult to the town's classic historical integrity. I wonder what Samuel Clemons (Mark Twain) would of had to say about that. He may have said, " I never saw a store I didn't like until I saw a WalMart."

Walmart is in Sonora, three miles down the road. We have three towns so close we often think of them as one - Jamestown, Sonora and Columbia.

[eccotecc]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

Walmart is in Sonora, three miles down the road. We have three towns so close we often think of them as one - Jamestown, Sonora and Columbia.

I know the area well. It is unfortunate Sonora succumbed to the temptations of modern day consumerism at he cost of their character and uniqueness. The strip malls with their national franchises are the modern day painted ladies.

[Ceece]

Walmart came to town. My wife's uncle and aunt and their children all went to work for them. Each of them get 20 hour work weeks and no health benefits.

Where would they be working if Walmart didn't come to town?

I have no qualms with Wallyworld. Some "pop" started it up and it went big, success right? I don't shop there often because they have little that I want and it's not a fun experience for me. I actually HATE shopping so if I can't get something from my local grocery/drug stores I usually turn to the internet.

[noihoforus]

Originally Posted by eccotecc

It's just my perspective, but those who are more interested in their investments and miserly penny pinching seem to have a quality of life issue and are disconnected from their community. They may try turning off their computers and getting out a little more. Meeting their neighbors and local merchants could vastly improve their lives. Smiling and genuinely caring about a community and its merchants does have a positive impact on a person's quality of life.

I have no problem with this until you get to the part about caring about your merchants....I think this is a two way street....and it starts with where I spend my hard earned dollar genuinely carrying about my satisfaction with both SERVICE and product...and then I will let them peel those thousands of dollars I spend each year out of my tightly clenched hand...

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Where would they be working if Walmart didn't come to town?

I have no qualms with Wallyworld. Some "pop" started it up and it went big, success right? I don't shop there often because they have little that I want and it's not a fun experience for me. I actually HATE shopping so if I can't get something from my local grocery/drug stores I usually turn to the internet.

I am anxious to here a response to your question...

From what I see here lies the crux of the problem.... IMO jobs left because of the "walmarts" of the world. Large multinational chain retailers broke the network of community/regional business... Not that many years ago we had small manufactures and small distributors of all sorts just about everywhere... These are just about gone, and with them the jobs that at least one built equity with over time.. It has all been "super sized". The profits sucked away to far away corporate headquarters. The only jobs left are working for the ones who stole your job in the first place....!

It was a 30 year process for it to happen. We can not change it back overnight... But we can start to become more aware of where we spend our powerful consumer $..

Again, IMO.... Consumer spending power, is the only real meaningful vote we have left as citizens.

[CAVA1990]

You need to fear Amazon more than Wal-Mart.

[SunnyTXsmile]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

You need to fear Amazon more than Wal-Mart.

Why do you say that? In addition to large vendors, small businesses and individuals sell on Amazon. I personally worry more about Wal-Mart.