Text 22698, 67 rader
Skriven 2006-09-25 18:55:56 av Ed Hulett (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 22692 av MIMI GALLANDT (1:275/311)
Ärende: Pat Buchanan
====================
On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 07:46:00 -0400
"MIMI GALLANDT -> ED HULETT" <1:275/311> wrote:


 EH>> Locally we have a small "mom & pop" hardware store. A few years ago
 EH>> Lowes opened a store less than a mile away. People who rarely
 EH>> shopped at the "mom & pop" lamented that Lowes would put the
 EH>> little guy out of business. Interestingly enough, the "mom & pop"
 EH>> are still at it with no sign of closing down.

 MG>>> Here in San Diego
 MG>>> there used to be two big local department stores. One was gone
 MG>>> before I was born called Marstons, George Marston, the founder
 MG>>> of Marstons, was a big philanthropist here, the other, Walker
 MG>>> Scott's, had several stores around the county. If I'm
 MG>>> remembering correctly that Tim lives in SD county he may
 MG>>> remember Walker Scott's. Marston's closed before WWII (it
 MG>>> could possibly be argued that WS's ran them out of business),
 MG>>> but WS hung on until the last one closed in the 80s or 90s.
 MG>>> It wasn't WalMart that did them in, more likely it was Sears
 MG>>> and Penneys. Most people (except teen age girls) prefer to do
 MG>>> their shopping in one place. Malls, Wal Mart, Target and
 MG>>> KMart do that for their customers. We've had KMart in SD
 MG>>> county since the 50s, Target since the 70s or 80s and Wal
 MG>>> Mart since the 90s. There were very, very few mom & pop
 MG>>> stores by the 90s. Another thing I
 MG> like ab
 MG>>> out Wal Mart is that they hire the handicapped.

 EH>> Around here we have a mega store called Fred Meyers (now owned by
 EH>> Kroger). My good friend's daughter is the Nursery Manager and her
 EH>> husband is the Produce Manager there. The daughter used to live in
 EH>> Spanish Fork, Utah and Wal Mart caused the Fred Meyers she worked
 EH>> at there to close. She is now worried that Wal Mart will do the
 EH>> same here with the new store that is going in less than a mile
 EH>> away.

 EH>> I think that the mega stores do more harm to other mega stores than
 EH>> they do to "mom & pop" stores.

 MG> I believe you're correct. Another complaint I hear about Wal Mart is
 MG> that they buy from foreign countries. Funny I never hear about the
 MG> Navy Exchange angering people but they buy from clothiers in Saipan
 MG> and other Asian / Polynesian countries. Where's the outrage towards
 MG> the Exchange. I don't believe that people are outraged about Wal Mart
 MG> buying from foreign countries OR putting Mom and Pop stores out of
 MG> business. I think those are excuses not reasons. I don't know the
 MG> reasons.

Even "mom & pop" stores buy stuff made in Asia. When purchasing
merchandise to sell, the buyer usually looks for the best price. No one
is saying the quality of Asian merchandise is bad, they only whine
about how little the workers get. This whine doesn't take into account
that the average citizen of those countries makes less than $300/year
and working for $3/hr there is like working for $300/hr here.

Ed

-- 
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that
he knows no more. -- William Cowper

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