I had a lengthy discussion with my Mom last night about the deterioration of the small downtown where she used to live in rural Pennsylvania, population 9755 as of 2006 and her shopping habits. She felt a little defensive about my recent posts and thought that I should know the real story, vs. my naive assumptions and grand ideologies. She said that their downtown started failing way before Walmart moved in - probably when the now defunct K-mart started business outside of town in the 1970’s or 80’s. She mentioned that when my brother was growing up, there were three men’s clothing stores downtown and now nothing. She used to send him to the store, have him pick out his school clothes and then the store owner would hold the clothes until she was able to make it in to pay the bill. So, what’s a consumer to do if you have no other choices? You go to the only store in town that has men’s clothing - Walmart, Kmart et al.
My Mom is probably representative of a lot of people in the US - when she runs her errands, she is looking for one stop shopping and doesn’t want to go from store to store looking for the right item when she can get it all under one roof for a lower cost than at the mom and pops. She illustrated her point by telling me that the brand of English Muffins she buys is a full .50 cents cheaper than the local grocery store. You can see how the savings would add up - and she is retired and on a fixed income. The downtown where she currently lives, population 3955 as of 2006, has been revitalized but is chock full of gift shops and other types of homegrown businesses that stock items she really doesn’t need.
I still maintain that resignation is not the answer - that cost and convenience do not justify giving in to the system. I do not want to live in a homogeneous country. Gee, I wouldn’t have to travel anywhere since the landscape of bix box stores would be the same across the nation. I asked my Mom if she had watched the movie - The Story of Stuff, that I had posted last week and she said she didn’t have the time. I replied, “Mom, you’re retired!” She, like a lot of other people, just doesn’t want to hear the message. I’m not picking on my Mom, here - I love her dearly, I’m just trying to understand.
So, as with my previous rants, I’m not trying to criticize the people who do shop at places like Walmart, but rather want to point out how our system has changed the way America shops (I can’t really speak for other countries) and I would argue this change has shifted our values. My Mom did counter that some local shops have had an increase in business despite Walmart and Lowes moving into town since they offer customer service that neither of these places do such as a locally owned appliance shop where she bought her appliances for her new house a couple of years ago. She knows if they break down, the owner, with whom she is on a first name basis, will promptly dispatch a service technician to her home vs. dealing with a large bureaucratic corporations like Walmart or Lowes because she has a relationship with the owner having shopped there for the past 30 years.
So, maybe that’s what it’s about - building relationships within our communities. Buy local when possible and maybe just maybe, we can start to reverse the trend.
The other day, I decided to take stock of my own stuff while I was folding laundry. My family’s clothing is well traveled: Jamaica, Guatemala, Phillipines, Turkey, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, China and more. I did find a few items made in the USA - my husband’s Levis, a pair of velvet Ideology gauchos belonging to my daughter and ironically our “Egyptian” cotton towels. I opened the books on my coffee table printed in China and elsewhere. We live in a global world.
So what about the history of strong economies supporting the weaker ones as Little Like Sand pointed out recently? I don’t think that has to change necessarily, but how about frequenting businesses who pay a living wage and who employ humanitarian work practices? Maybe instead of paying $2.44 for a pair of plastic flip flops I’ll now pay $5.00. Still inexpensive, right?
Speaking of flip flops, check out this woman’s harrowing and painful story that Dinahmow shared with me. Makes you think twice about the actual cost of cheap.
Slowly stepping off soap box,
~Cynthia
P.S. I promise regular art posts will begin again shortly.
Tags: dangerous flip flops, walmart, walmart watch
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