When you buy from a small mom or pop business...

[ajhuff]

I buy what I can.

I buy my coffee from a local roaster. We eat out nearly every day and rarely go to a chain. I buy from the local farmers market and all the beef in my freezer was grown and slaughtered locally. Tires I get from an independent. But that's about it. Everything else that you can think of either has to come from Home Depot, Walmart or one of two medium sized chain groceries; bed sheets, clothes, TVs, electronics, computers, screwdrivers, pet supplies, etc. Or go on-line like I do, first choice always being Amazon. A little different here in that when they built Walmart 2 years ago it did not run anyone out of town. There was nothing here to start with.

-AJ

 

[Cutty Sharp]

When Walmart starts carrying Doi or Shig for 25% less? Its easy to call out stores like that because they don't have what you want. They develope because there was a need that they fulfilled. Everyone is on a budget.

Hehe... Be honest, if those knives were ever to appear en masse at WalMarts everywhere, few of the forumites would want them. In fact current owners would probably want to sell. Wouldn't be cool anymore.

 

[Eamon Burke]

When Walmart starts carrying Doi or Shig for 25% less? Its easy to call out stores like that because they don't have what you want. They develope because there was a need that they fulfilled. Everyone is on a budget.

A budget is a fixed amount of money that you use to determine what you can buy, not a price you can demand everything you want to fit in.

I have stopped buying things because they contracted with Wal-Mart for shelf space, and lower prices. I've driven 45 minutes to go to Cabela's to get a pocket knife Wal-Mart sold 5 minutes away. Why? Because I hate them. They seriously annihilated the town I lived in, despite the fact that there was already a bustling Wal-Mart. In the course of about 3 years, around a dozen people I knew personally lost their jobs at local businesses and got a job at Super Wal-Mart, where they then turned around and spent every dollar. I knew people who were at that stupid store more than once a day, literally.

It's not about the fact that they sell cheap, disposable, dangerous, and useless goods at unrealistic prices. It's the fact that they are a knife small economies use to cut their own throats.

 

[Cutty Sharp]

I've driven 45 minutes to go to Cabela's to get a pocket knife Wal-Mart sold 5 minutes away. Why? Because I hate them. They seriously annihilated the town I lived in, despite the fact that there was already a bustling Wal-Mart. In the course of about 3 years, around a dozen people I knew personally lost their jobs at local businesses and got a job at Super Wal-Mart, where they then turned around and spent every dollar. I knew people who were at that stupid store more than once a day, literally. It's not about the fact that they sell cheap, disposable, dangerous, and useless goods at unrealistic prices. It's the fact that they are a knife small economies use to cut their own throats.

Hear hear! However, this certainly makes life difficult for you. If things are this way, is it worthwhile moving elsewhere? If you need to travel that far to shop things are a bit extreme.

 

[Eamon Burke]

Not for most things. There are options, tons of local people. I switched from a certain big box store to a local version, and got better products, lower prices, special ordering, friendly service, and tax breaks.

We wouldn't move somewhere that doesn't have any local business anymore, like our hometown. That is the main reason we didn't move back--the community sucks.

 

[Cipcich]

Hear hear indeed. Dollars are votes in this country. How people spend their money to a large extent determines what develops.
I was in a WalMart once, about twenty years ago, because my mother wanted a fan. I did not enjoy the experience. The next day I was in a local hardware store, looking for something else for my mom's house, and came across a much better selection of fans at prices as good or better.
I used to work with a guy who shopped at WalMart every day. In the end, I stopped taking my breaks with him because he was just too stupid to live . . .

 

[chinacats]

In the end, I stopped taking my breaks with him because he was just too stupid to live . . .

:rofl2: