…to go to one of my favorite stores, the West Concord 5 & 10, and buy Valentine supplies for the “Create a Valentine” program that I’ll be running on Valentine’s Day. The 5 & 10 is the genuine article, funky layout, lots of nooks and crannies, and every possible type of merchandise. And the prices are reasonable, too. Many times people ask me why I don’t go to the superstore craft store that’s somewhere west of Harvard, and I reply that it’s a longer drive than the 5 & 10, they probably don’t have really have what I’m looking for, and it’s probably more expensive than the 5 & 10.Â
Given my many years of running a small independent toy store, I’m also a huge advocate for supporting local businesses. It makes me pretty angry when I hear people complain about dying local town centers, and then in the same breath claim that all independent stores have higher prices than the chain and online stores. Actually, it makes me REALLY angry: a good independent store is highly aware of being price competitive, and is very responsive to its customers’ needs. Chances are that the product these small stores carry is of far higher quality that what you find in the chain stores, too. Not to mention the ecological benefits of shopping close to home, since you burn far less fossil fuel driving to a local store (and if you’re lucky enough to live within walking distance, then you don’t have to drive at all).
Since I’ve gotten on this soap box, here’s one more comment: maybe the real problem is that we Americans buy too much STUFF that we don’t need. How about only buyig what you really need, and buying it at a local store in order to preserve town centers? Certainly Jim and I have been pushed in this direction, due to budget and home size, and now that we’ve gotten in the habit of only buying the essentials, no junk, there’s no way that I’d ever go back. It’s a cleaner way of living, and also much easier to get a thrill (I splurged and bought myself a magazine the other day, and it felt like a real treat – for only $3.50!).
One more thought:Â when living simply, there’s much more call to visit your local library and take advantage of all the fabulous free materials available there for you to borrow and enjoy.
And to think that this all started with me talking about buying Valentine supplies. Does this count as stream-of-consciousness?
“Does this count as stream-of-consciousness?”
Nope – much too lucid. But it does count as a digression, in a useful Montaignian way I think.
I totally agree with you, Abby, especially about we Americans buying way too much stuff. I live in what would be described as a rural, economically needy area. Yet, there are 4, count ’em, 4 new storage unit businesses which all have gone up in the last 5 years. This is in addition to everyone’s outbuildings and garages being filled to the rafters with stuff. What are they storing, and why? Why do they spend such hard earned money on junk that is going to end up in the trash heap or in a storage unti, where they pay monthly storage fees? Is it that they’ve bought way too much, far beyond what is usable and needed, and counts as just amassing? So now we have cleared wood lots with unsightly metal quonset huts or flat-roofed aluminum rectangles also full of stuff. Where does it stop? When we moved, and we had to sort through 14 years of accumulated clutter, we vowed never again. If we don’t need it, it gets passed on (if already owned), and if we don’t need it, we don’t buy it. Of course, there’s that fine line between needing and wanting, but we’ve tried really hard not to accumulate. Like you, there are budget restraints and just being kind of grossed out by all the consumerism that surrounds us daily. When Super Bowl Sunday becomes a major retail event, there’s something wrong. When Christmas decorations go up in September, when Valentine’s Day goes up December 26, when even St. Patrick’s Day spurns out-of-control buying, someone has to say stop. Sorry, didn’t mean to rant. Have a nice day!
As someone else who worked in a smallish family-owned business (a lumberyard), I learned pretty quickly that the big-box retailers do have lower prices – but only on a few select items that they know consumers will pay attention to. Yet we found out that on other common items, the big-bos retailers sometimes charged twice what we charged. This was a well-known practice in the building materials industry, and I saw it happening.
So we got in the habit of asking our customers to do price comparisons on a total job (deck, addition, whatever) – our prices were *always* competitive with the big-box retailers, and we usually beat them. The same thing is still true today – my experience has been that Home Depot is a little more expensive than locally-owned lumberyards, overall.
Not to mention that the Home Depot “experience” is far less pleasant than going to Concord Lumber…
And, Liz, you go girl! : )