[Vision2020] Re: Re: Walmart, the big domino.........

[Jeff Harkins]

Mr Chasuk,

A warm and charming story - and pleasing to 
read.  And I am certain that you enjoyed it.  I 
found the experience of having to adjust my 
schedule to fit the shopkeepers annoying - taking 
time away from other activities that I enjoy.

When I moved to the Palouse 30 years ago, stores 
closed at 5:00 - most closed on Sat by noon (if they were open at all).

But you can still enjoy the shopping regime of 
Europe- just go back there - my recent trips to 
Europe brought me in touch with that - charming 
and pleasant - for a holiday.  The local shops 
were especially prevalent in southern Greece and 
southern Italy. It would fail here - mostly, I 
think, because most of us would rather spend our 
time doing things besides shopping - hiking, 
gardening, reading, helping not-for-profits, 
playing with children, visiting friends in their 
homes or having them visit us, taking pictures, 
skiing,  ......  Of course, it is just my opinion 
..........  and that is the nature of "quality of 
life" ..... we are all free to seek a preferred "quality of life".

You find the megastore "cheap" - I find it 
efficient, effective and safe. Many of my senior 
citizen friends find it a vast improvement over 
the struggle of trying to get from one business 
to another on slippery streets and slippery 
sidewalks in the winter.  You must not appreciate 
how difficult it can be when you have brittle 
bones and slip and fall and break your hip.  It's 
one thing to ask someone to stop at "the store" 
and pick up a couple of things.  It's quite 
another to ask someone to please stop at these 6 places for me.

But the beautiful aspect of free enterprise is 
that you are free to invest capital in a small 
store and lease it to someone for a small 
business.  If it is all that great an idea for 
the people that live here, it will prosper and 
soon other small stores will pop up and so 
on.  You can have your thing without impinging on my thing.

There are several small shops in Moscow for you - 
wine, natural foods, tattoos, t-shirt, bakery, 
coffee house, tavern, comic books, bookstore, 
jewelry shop, gift store, pet store ......  If a 
particular one is missing, invest some capital 
and see what happens - it might just work.

At 08:15 PM 3/6/2006, you wrote:
>My objection to Wal-Mart, or any big superstore, is admittedly
>subjective.  For me, it is purely a quality of life issue, not to be
>confused with standard of living.  Doing all of my shopping at one big
>Megamart is convenient, yes, and usually cheaper, yes, but the cost of
>this convenience and "cheapness" is, in my opinion, quality of life.
>
>True story: I moved to the UK over 25 years ago, where I Iived for
>many years.  All of the stores were closed on Sundays (with a few
>peculiar exceptions), most shops shut by 5:30pm, and had early closing
>at least one day a week.  It was bloody annoying at first, but when I
>finally adjusted, I liked it.  I had to shop separately at the
>butchers, the bakers, and the fruiterers (a real word), and I became
>friendly with most of the shopkeepers.
>
>I'd been there two weeks when I went into a pork butchers to buy a
>ham.  I'd never met the butcher before in my life.  He saw me eying a
>large ham, so when I plonked down money for a smaller one, he asked
>why I'd not purchased the one I wanted.  I explained truthfully that
>it was more than I could afford.  He handed me the larger ham and told
>me to pay him when I had the money.
>
>I shopped there for many many years after that.
>
>When the small stores have been vanquished by the Megamarts, they are
>gone forever, and with them a quality of life that can never be
>restored.  Maybe I'm selfish to want to hold on to that, but I'll live
>with myself.
>
>I've lived in both worlds, and I know which one I prefer.  Most people
>that I know, especially if they are young, don't realize what they are
>giving up by embracing the Magamarts.  The market where I bought a lot
>of my fruit and vegetables had been in the same place for nearly 700
>years.  For some reason that I can't explain, that knowledge felt
>comfortable.  It felt "good."  The sausage that I bought at the
>sausage shop (yes, a distinct sausage shop) sold sausage that was
>different than the sausages that I might buy in the next village, or
>the village after that, or the village after that.  Ditto the fresh
>bread from the bakery, and, largely, the pint of beer from the pub
>supported by the local brewery.
>
>You don't miss it until it is gone, and I've been missing it ever
>since I left England almost a decade ago.
>
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