I hear the encouragement to shop locally. You hear it more so at this time of year. I would love to shop locally except there aren't any shops. Well, we do have the local pharmacy which has an excellent selection of bric and brac and gift ideas. Recently remodeled, I admit I love it. There is a second hand shop, of sorts, and that's about it. Greensboro isn't a teeming hub of business nor a tourist attraction. Greensboro is just home to a little over 1800 people. Oh, a gun shop just opened but I haven't been there yet, doubt I ever will but it's good to see a business anyway.
When I was growing up on Long Island in East Hampton, we did shop locally. That was for everyday shopping though, the really big shopping for the holidays was either mail order catalogues' or perhaps a road trip to Riverhead. Riverhead was a drive of twenty five miles so that didn't happen often. Of course that was over fifty years ago. The local business people had their little shops and struggled to make ends meet over the long cold winter. Thing was, and still is, the tourist trade carried them through, most of the time. The summer crowd pumped enough money into the area to sustain it. I no longer live there but understand there is no tourist trade anymore, the tourists have taken up residence and changed the town completely. Oh, there are local shops alright, it's just that the locals can't afford to shop in them. The locals are the ones forced to travel elsewhere to get their necessities. Which begs the question, who is local?
I saw it happening when I was a teenager. The stores began calling themselves boutiques. Boutique means, you get the same stuff, you just have to pay more for it. It's the same thing as going to a barber for a haircut or going to a stylist, for a haircut. You know what I mean. It's the difference between home made and folk art. Folk art costs a lot more than homemade stuff. Of course the folks are at home making it. Around these parts we have a lot of Amish made items being advertised. Yes, Amish people are making these items. They are also using every modern tool and convenience possible. The catch, most of the time is, they can use that stuff they just can't own that stuff. No problem, all you need is an " English" as they say to have ownership. They're not lying, Amish folks are making the items. Should you infer they are making these items by hand, using traditional methods and hand tools, that's your problem. The bottom line is boutiques have to sell there products at a higher price because they are going to sell less of it. Why are they selling less? The answer is easy enough to understand, because I can get the same stuff elsewhere cheaper. And that is what happened to the local shops. Going to the quaint little shops and boutiques is an entertainment. It isn't done for the necessities.
I do try to shop locally. I would love to be able to do that for everything, but it isn't possible or practical. As consumers we have been spoiled. I include myself in that group. I am spoiled with the availability of just about anything I can imagine at my fingertips. The only constraint is time. Yes, time. If I can exercise patience I can get whatever I desire, delivered to my door. Isn't that the challenge today? Can you wait for it? And if you are willing to spend the money you can get it overnight! It is the unlimited selection that is the draw and the low price. The local shop owner can not stock millions of dollars in inventory. The local guy can't sell for less because his expenses aren't getting less. The only thing a local shop has going for it is, convenience. And convenience in this instance means I get what I want right this second. It is also the reason you pay so much more for that product. Paying for convenience? Yes, you are really buying time aren't you? And time is the most precious commodity of all. Time once spent can never be recouped. Time doesn't earn interest, time expires.
The local shops began closing down because we, as consumers, demanded more selection and a lower price. Isolated in out little towns and hamlets we turned to Sears Roebuck and Company. Montgomery Ward, Spiegel and others. We were provided catalogues for our shopping convenience. And we thought, this is great. I can sit at the kitchen table and fill out an order form. I can get revolving credit! Larger selection, low prices and a payment plan, perfect. To the local shop owner we said, it's nothing personal, just business. And the buying began in earnest. Wasn't too long the idea of a mall came along, just put all the shops in one building. Nothing personal about any of that either, just good business. Shared expenses are lower expenses. Now we have the internet. It is an unlimited resource for anything one can imagine. From every corner of the world products are available. If you can dream it, you can find it without ever leaving your chair.
It all seems wonderful doesn't it? And now we are encouraged to shop local. Why? Well, because we want it to be personal again. We have discovered that personal service is the best service. Of course we really don't want to pay for that though. Well we will if it is a boutique or specialty shop. We will if we don't have to wait, unless it is to get into the most fashionable of places then we will wait hours to eat a meal. We will pay hundreds of dollars for a meal that wouldn't feed a small child if it is the " right " place. We won't spend twenty five dollars at the local diner though, nah, just hit up Mickey D's for the six dollar meal deal, nothing personal. We have sacrificed the personal for the impersonal. We can get whatever we want, at the price we wish to pay, and we don't have to spend much of our time doing it. Nothing personal, it's just business. Ironically we are now willing to spend more money being entertained by " shopping " than we used to spend shopping. We do that for the " personal " experience. When we shop those boutiques we get that feeling of personal service. We get the feeling that the shop owner cares about us and gives us personal attention. We feel special and that's why we are willing to spend our money there. Maybe we should have just kept spending our money at the local shops in the first place. Maybe we should have kept it personal. Ah, wouldn't that be something. Well, it's nothing personal, just business.
When I was growing up on Long Island in East Hampton, we did shop locally. That was for everyday shopping though, the really big shopping for the holidays was either mail order catalogues' or perhaps a road trip to Riverhead. Riverhead was a drive of twenty five miles so that didn't happen often. Of course that was over fifty years ago. The local business people had their little shops and struggled to make ends meet over the long cold winter. Thing was, and still is, the tourist trade carried them through, most of the time. The summer crowd pumped enough money into the area to sustain it. I no longer live there but understand there is no tourist trade anymore, the tourists have taken up residence and changed the town completely. Oh, there are local shops alright, it's just that the locals can't afford to shop in them. The locals are the ones forced to travel elsewhere to get their necessities. Which begs the question, who is local?
I saw it happening when I was a teenager. The stores began calling themselves boutiques. Boutique means, you get the same stuff, you just have to pay more for it. It's the same thing as going to a barber for a haircut or going to a stylist, for a haircut. You know what I mean. It's the difference between home made and folk art. Folk art costs a lot more than homemade stuff. Of course the folks are at home making it. Around these parts we have a lot of Amish made items being advertised. Yes, Amish people are making these items. They are also using every modern tool and convenience possible. The catch, most of the time is, they can use that stuff they just can't own that stuff. No problem, all you need is an " English" as they say to have ownership. They're not lying, Amish folks are making the items. Should you infer they are making these items by hand, using traditional methods and hand tools, that's your problem. The bottom line is boutiques have to sell there products at a higher price because they are going to sell less of it. Why are they selling less? The answer is easy enough to understand, because I can get the same stuff elsewhere cheaper. And that is what happened to the local shops. Going to the quaint little shops and boutiques is an entertainment. It isn't done for the necessities.
I do try to shop locally. I would love to be able to do that for everything, but it isn't possible or practical. As consumers we have been spoiled. I include myself in that group. I am spoiled with the availability of just about anything I can imagine at my fingertips. The only constraint is time. Yes, time. If I can exercise patience I can get whatever I desire, delivered to my door. Isn't that the challenge today? Can you wait for it? And if you are willing to spend the money you can get it overnight! It is the unlimited selection that is the draw and the low price. The local shop owner can not stock millions of dollars in inventory. The local guy can't sell for less because his expenses aren't getting less. The only thing a local shop has going for it is, convenience. And convenience in this instance means I get what I want right this second. It is also the reason you pay so much more for that product. Paying for convenience? Yes, you are really buying time aren't you? And time is the most precious commodity of all. Time once spent can never be recouped. Time doesn't earn interest, time expires.
The local shops began closing down because we, as consumers, demanded more selection and a lower price. Isolated in out little towns and hamlets we turned to Sears Roebuck and Company. Montgomery Ward, Spiegel and others. We were provided catalogues for our shopping convenience. And we thought, this is great. I can sit at the kitchen table and fill out an order form. I can get revolving credit! Larger selection, low prices and a payment plan, perfect. To the local shop owner we said, it's nothing personal, just business. And the buying began in earnest. Wasn't too long the idea of a mall came along, just put all the shops in one building. Nothing personal about any of that either, just good business. Shared expenses are lower expenses. Now we have the internet. It is an unlimited resource for anything one can imagine. From every corner of the world products are available. If you can dream it, you can find it without ever leaving your chair.
It all seems wonderful doesn't it? And now we are encouraged to shop local. Why? Well, because we want it to be personal again. We have discovered that personal service is the best service. Of course we really don't want to pay for that though. Well we will if it is a boutique or specialty shop. We will if we don't have to wait, unless it is to get into the most fashionable of places then we will wait hours to eat a meal. We will pay hundreds of dollars for a meal that wouldn't feed a small child if it is the " right " place. We won't spend twenty five dollars at the local diner though, nah, just hit up Mickey D's for the six dollar meal deal, nothing personal. We have sacrificed the personal for the impersonal. We can get whatever we want, at the price we wish to pay, and we don't have to spend much of our time doing it. Nothing personal, it's just business. Ironically we are now willing to spend more money being entertained by " shopping " than we used to spend shopping. We do that for the " personal " experience. When we shop those boutiques we get that feeling of personal service. We get the feeling that the shop owner cares about us and gives us personal attention. We feel special and that's why we are willing to spend our money there. Maybe we should have just kept spending our money at the local shops in the first place. Maybe we should have kept it personal. Ah, wouldn't that be something. Well, it's nothing personal, just business.
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