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Agreed. The economy needs to shake out its excesses.
I think some people don't get the many of the businesses closing aren't being replaced. Of course some of the closed business will create opportunities for others, but many will not.
I'm still amazed at how many of those stupid home goods stores have popped up over the last 5-7 years.
MInor adjustments. You open a bunch when things are booming, you close a few bad ones when it slows somewhat.
I suspect Lowes is kickin Home Depots rear end. One of my pet peeves is to check out at Home Depot. They have 17 cash registers and 1 is open and it's at the very far end.
I also suspect Costco is whipping up on Sam's Clubs.
A Home Depot in our area is closing right now. We all knew it wouldn't make it when they were building right beside Lowes 5 years ago. Looking for the competition to start against our super Wal Mart as a Meijers is being built about a mile away.
I think some people don't get the many of the businesses closing aren't being replaced. Of course some of the closed business will create opportunities for others, but many will not.
About the best use I see of the abandoned (and being abandoned) "big boxes" are to either knock the roof out and make a Greenhouse -- or turn the roof into a Greenhouse -- For in-city and in-suburbia local produced food outlets.
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I'm still amazed at how many of those stupid home goods stores have popped up over the last 5-7 years.
Their role was to fill-up the ARM financed McMansions. The McMansion era is now dead, and so goes the "home goods" stores.
The problem isn't only that these companies are closing down but the jobs are also lost... and when they do find work, often times it pays much less than what they had before... then these very same people try to hang on to the things they had in life and run up a lot of debt instead of downsizing to an affordable level... and taxes go up to support them... and the taxes never ever go away... instead they increase (or they continue to make new ones)... so what is the solution?
sacrifice is the solution! sacrifice that cheap, made in you know where for the more expensive made in the us(or countries that compete on a level footing). i have tried it and it ain't always easy and sometimes it's impossible (tennis balls, sneakers, clothing esp) . start to protest that stores don't have locally manufactured products. bear in mind that what you pay more for today will end up in less of your tax bucks going to welfare.
sacrifice is the solution! sacrifice that cheap, made in you know where for the more expensive made in the us(or countries that compete on a level footing). i have tried it and it ain't always easy and sometimes it's impossible (tennis balls, sneakers, clothing esp) . start to protest that stores don't have locally manufactured products. bear in mind that what you pay more for today will end up in less of your tax bucks going to welfare.
you dont have to protest. As transportation cost rise and as wages rise in these manufacturing countries it will be cheaper to make it at home.
you dont have to protest. As transportation cost rise and as wages rise in these manufacturing countries it will be cheaper to make it at home.
you still have to protest. when i'm at the store i will make sure at least a few people hear me ask for stuff made here. who knows maybe i can start a trend
Maybe start a movement then? I mean write in to companies or into store managers or email him. Better yet email district managers and complain and get as much people as possible to do so.
Home Depot has been called out on their customer service for years and yet nothing has changed. I used to live in metro Atlanta (HQ for HD) and they never addressed the service / store issues except for a few key / high profile stores. I pass a HD to get to a Lowe's!
One store that was not mentioned is Bombay, that shut down recently. Everytime I went in there, their merchandise always looked the same. They sort of had that British Colonial / Traditional look going on, but their was never anything that looked strikingly different from season to season.
To me it was clear that Bombay would shut down. I really liked their stuff and bought a lot but they had all these sales and you easily would know when the sales would come...so in between the prices went back up and nobody would buy until the next sale...after a while everybody knows and not much new stuff came in...so do the math...
We have a great Home Depot where I live with very good management and great service, so has Lowes too in our area, so we might be lucky.
To me the company with the worst service is Verizon and I'm glad I got rid of them, horrible customer service and we had a thread up in the Tampa forum and not 1 person was in favor of Verizon.
Maybe start a movement then? I mean write in to companies or into store managers or email him. Better yet email district managers and complain and get as much people as possible to do so.
In our business all it took was a few customers returning crappy foreign made items to stop carrying them. It was a PITA for us to absorb the cost AND have to order a replacement for the customer AND pay a restocking fee to the crappy company that built the made in _____ "junk". We even have one customer that comes in and in his broken English (he is of Asian decent) says he does NOT want ANYTHING "Made in China" and he calls it junk. I know that we are not alone as other companies have been saying the same thing that we deal with or run into. Many don't want and flat out refuse to buy any item "made in China" as it most of the time: Does not work, is not made to fit properly, will tear up any working pieces due to not fitting correctly, blow fuses, blow out electronics (automobiles and other machinery tend to get this). Then it cost MORE to fix the stuff it broke which is usually MORE than any amount saved by purchasing the crap to start with.
Best way to find products NOT made in other countries is to shop at your LOCALLY OWNED businesses. The manager/owner is more open to hearing about problems and it does effect them in the pocketbook when many items are returned unlike a large box store that the manager or returns clerk does not have to pay for it (directly at least or not till the end when they lose their job due to lower profits). Not only will you be more likely to find items made in the USA but you will get a MUCH MORE knowledgable person to help you out that KNOWS the products and what they can do or at least knows who to call and find out for you.
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