[Vision2020] Wal-Mart and Personal Choice (was Job Openings)

[Donovan Arnold]

Hi Joe,
  
I appreciate for your candid  response. However, I think I am still confused about your viewpoint.  You stated, 
  
  "You might believe that the Co-op and Paradise Ridge will remain but  you can't say that for certain. If they don't, my personal choices  decline."
  
 Can you clarify for me how Wal-Mart's adding of a  grocery store and moving locations to the east side of town would put  Paradise Ridge at an increased risk for going out of business? I am not  seeing the connection.
  
 I am also curious as to if you can  name any other locally owned and operated businesses downtown that is  in direct competition with Wal-Mart? As in, provides the SAME goods and  services. I cannot think of any.  
  
 As to the Co-OP, I  do not know of any items that it sells that are the same as Wal-Mart.  Is there anyone that really debates going to the Co-OP or Win-co?
  
  You really need to just stop in a Wal-Mart once Joe, just to see what  they carry, or for that matter, what they do not carry. They do not  sell many books, furniture, shoes, electronics, or medical equipment.  It is pretty much the bare bones of goods. Even their clothing line is  pretty limited with no quality name brands, and they fit few people. I  could not even find a stethoscope or even a bath pillow there. They  also do not sell used items, so you can beat them on price many times  at Hastings, Goodwill, VGH, Now and Then, Book People, and the downtown  pawn shop. 
  
  Take Care,
  
  _DJA
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  

joekc at adelphia.net wrote:  Donovan,

Good  points but I don't buy the general claim. Try to find a soda that does  not have cafeine or sugar, for instance. It is nearly impossible. Why?  There is no incentive to cater to people with tastes that are not in  line with the majority. I worry whether there are enough folks who  share my musical tastes -- and my tastes with regard to food -- were a  Super Wal-Mart to move in to Moscow. And my main point stands. There is  no reason to suggest that five years after Super Wal-Mart moves in that  I will have a greater number of choices for things that I actually want  than I do right now. Super Wal-Mart is not the clear winner in the  personal choice sweep stakes -- unless your choices are in line with  the choices of the majority. You might believe that the Co-op and  Paradise Ridge will remain but you can't say that for certain. If they  don't, my personal choices decline.

Thanks! Joe

---- Donovan Arnold  wrote: 
> Joe,
>   
>  I was honestly unaware that Wal-Mart censored their audio and video  products. All the ones I have bought there seem to be just like the  ones I buy elsewhere.
>   
>   I think that a new WalMart would add a selection of goods and services to the community.
>   
>   "If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives the Co-op away"
>   
>   Sorry, but that is just silly Joe. 
>   
>  I do agree that any business that tries to compete with Wal-Mart  directly, trying to sell cheap goods for the lowest prices possible,  they will most likely fail unless they are another huge super chain  with the same practices. But Wal_mart does not sell everything, it does  not provide professional expertise, and it does not sell many quality  goods. 
>   
> Any business that sells quality goods,  provides good customer service, or sells specialty items, used items,  or items that Wal-Mart does not carry, can easily exist in this town  with a Wal-Mart, as they do now. Anyone business that tries to compete  with Wal-Mart on there turf, cheap products for cheap prices, will most  likely suffer.
>   
>   _DJA
>   
>   
> 
>  joekc at adelphia.net wrote:I have to be honest that, even though I did  organize the public forum on Wal-Mart and the local economy the other  night, not so long ago I knew relatively little about these issues.  Thanks to Andrew, Jeff, Steven, BJ, and other folks at Monday's public  forum, I've learned a lot in a relatively short period of time.
> 
>  One thing I learned is that it is not clear whether having a Super  Wal-Mart in town would increase or decrease our level of choice. It is  doubtful that a Super Wal-Mart would offer anything that we don't  already have available, for instance. Of course, it would offer things  that we already have available at a cheaper price and that is an  important consideration. But it is not -- in my estimate -- the most  important consideration.
> 
> There are also ways in which  a Super Wal-Mart would limit many of the choices I now have. For  instance, if I want to purchase a CD I can go down today to Paradise  Ridge and buy it, knowing that the full content of the CD is exactly as  the artist intended. At Wal-Mart many of the CD's that they sell have  censored content and are quite different from what the artist intended.  If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives Paradise Ridge out of business,  then a significant and important set of personal choices would be  removed.
> 
> There is even a better example if we compare  the selection of foods offered at the Co-op with the selection of foods  offered at a Super Wal-Mart. If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives  the Co-op away there are a number of products -- from soy milk to  wheat-free crackers to beer to margarines high in poly-unsaturated fats  -- that I would not be able to purchase, at least in any easy way.
> 
>  For me, a Super Wal-Mart would eventually translate into fewer choices  and that is one reason I am against having a Super Wal-Mart in Moscow.
> 
> Joe Campbell
> 
> ---- Donovan Arnold  wrote: 
>  > I thought some of you might be interested in this new committee  forming in Moscow: Moscow Committee to Prevent Personal Choice
> >        
>  > Wanted: Moscow Community Members out to eliminate personal choice  and enforce their personal preferences on others including but not  limited to: Shopping Habits, Sexual Preferences, Place of Worship,  Worship Practices, Education, Clothing, etc. 
> >        
>  > Qualifications: Must be extremely narrow-minded, egotistical, and  know what is best for all people, even ones you never met.
> >        
>  > Duties: Create, support and establish policies in Moscow and the  surrounding community that eliminates personal preferences of others.  The committee shall establish where people can shop and what stores are  permitted in the area. It will establish what religions people can  practice, how they practice that religion, and where. It will establish  how and where people will educate their children, and establish what  their children will learn and are not permitted to learn. It will  establish who people can have sex with, what type of sex they can  engage in, who they can have children with or not have children with,  how many children they can or must have, what the gender of their  children shall be, and the parents’ marital status. In addition,  it will establish what people can eat, smoke, drink, consume, how much,  and where it can be eaten, smoked, drunk, or consumed. It will also  establish what people can wear, what accessories are permitted, what  brands!
  are!
>   leg!
> >  al, and
> > how  much skin can or must be exposed. Finally, it shall pursue a strategy  of pointing out choices people still have after it stripes people of  another personal choice or pointing out the benefits to  “society” and the “community” by eliminating  personal freedoms.
> >        
> >       Hours:  Big Brother is  ALWAYS watching
> >        
> >       State Date: 1984
> >        
> >       Pay: Unconstitutional power and authority over others
> >        
> >       Please send application to: 
> >        
> >       City  of Moscow 
> >       206 East Third Street 
> >       Moscow, ID,   83843
> >     
> > 
> >   
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Photos – Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover
> >  Photo Books. You design it and we’ll bind it!
> 
> 
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> 
> 
>    
> ---------------------------------
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_____________________________________________________
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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Yahoo! Photos – Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover
 Photo Books. You design it and we’ll bind it!
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