He’s not buying something he doesn’t like, he’s explaining why he’s buying soda with his breakfast.

My one exception? Amazon. They’re fantastic!

Our community cheered when Walmart arrived. Know why? We no longer had to shop at our locally owned grocery store, with its rude owners, limited selection, moldy produce, not-so-fresh dairy and meat, and sky-high prices.

We no longer had to shop at the locally-owned pharmacy, with its rude owners, limited selection, sky-high prices and limited hours of operation (Need medicine on a Saturday afternoon, Sunday, or past 6:00 on weekdays? Too bad, you’re out of luck.)

We no longer had to spend time and gas money driving 30 miles away to the nearest big town to get decent variety and prices.

The locally owned stores not only lost most of their customers, they lost their employees. They went to work at Walmart, where they were able to get higher wages and the benefits that the locally owned businesses never provided.

In addition, Walmart gives thousands upon thousands of dollars in contributions to the community each year for charities, benefits, fire and police departments, schools, libraries, sports programs, animal shelters, and on and on.

So yes, some of our local businesses did go under with the arrival of Walmart, but there was a very good reason for that – and our community has benefited greatly.

if they have what I want/need when I want it are reasonably friendly and assuredly knowledgeable, and it’s a fair price (as defined by me, the consumer) then I buy there.

I sure wouldn’t buy something I don’t need. But if I could bring some business to a deserving shop by referring it to friends or colleagues, sure, I do that and would continue to do so.

there are some excellent local businesses and farmers. And there are some that are not.

Being big isn’t automatically being bad. I have purchased from companies as diverse as Amazon and REI with great results.

But Sam’s Club is a part of Walmart and due to their policies (overt and covert) and negative behaviors socially and environmentally I will not give them my business.

I will not buy from a company that locks its workers inside the store, and forces them to work off the clock.

I will not buy from a store that allows hazardous wastes to seep into the groundwater from their behemoth trucks in their ever larger parking lots.

Not from a company that skimped on overhead parking lot lighting and had numorous customers assaulted until a lawsuit forced them to do otherwise.

A company whose growth strategy is predicated on eradicating what is local and individually owned.

Not ever will I buy from Walmart or any of their affiliates.

“If an item makes you feel a certain way that you can’t quantify with hard facts, marketing is probably at work. Ignore it. Make your purchasing decisions based on facts and come away with the best buy you can.”

If “local” is more expensive, it probably means one or more likely both of the following:

1. The seller is taking advantage of consumers’ “branding” irrationality to increase either volume or profit or both, and the consumer is paying extra for the “warm and fuzzy” feeling.

2. There is a misapplication of resources. The producer is inputting greater resources into production and must charge a higher price to recoup, which the producer can only get away with because the consumer has brand-identified “local” as “superior.” Another word for the misapplication of resources is “waste” which is never frugal or environmentally friendly.

Sure, you can sometimes get different varieties at the farmer’s market that aren’t available at your local grocery store or Costco, and the shopping there can be an entertaining way to spend a Saturday morning, but to make it a matter of principle to “buy local” whenever possible even if it costs more is allowing oneself to be seduced by a brand.

The argument that shopping local improves your local economy also flies in the face of economic theory. Economies improve by maximizing their comparative advantages in trade with other economies. Washington State is better at growing apples and wheat; California is better at growing citrus and artichokes. When a Washington resident buys a California orange or artichoke, she allows a California resident to buy an apple or loaf of bread. All get prices superior to what they would have to pay if they tried to grow oranges/artichokes in Washington and apples/wheat in California (which could be done but only by a huge waste of resources).

And the alternative, Washington residents refrain from buying citrus when that’s what they truly want and Californians don’t eat apples even if they’d like one, is not an IMPROVEMENT to an economy. Simply having more money isn’t an economic good, having WHAT YOU WANT is an economic good. So if you want apples and deprive yourself by buying citrus, the local economy, of which you are a part, has suffered.

Service, quality, selection, convenience, warranties, etc. at local shops can all be better or worse than with large chains. Which carries the brand of “local” rationally should be irrelevant to choosing the best.

We have found in the past that the big box stores will change over time; when they open they have a wide variety of products, but as they track sales in a specific store, they start eliminating things that don’t sell and stock deeper, not wider. When we needed something “odd” we’ve ended up searching out the small specialty stores for specific items in the long run anyway, so now make a point of frequenting them when we are able so that they are still in business when we need them.

Oh yeah. He does. So much so that he stopped going for health and finance reasons. (He was point blank says that he was “living the latte factor”) So what if he doesn’t like coffee. He’s not forcing himself to go and buy something at this place. He’s actually found a reason to allow himself the treat that he used to have more frequently.

Friends of ours ran up against Wal-Mart years ago when it was just starting to become the mega-monster it is today. They owned a combination bike shop/toy store. They held out against Wal-Mart much longer than any of the other small local businesses that went under after the Wal-Mart arrived because of expertise.

The husband was not only an expert on biking, he’d biked across the top of the United States. (Roughly following the Canadian border.) The wife not only knew their stock cold, but was *brilliant* at suggesting toys that would suit a particular child. Customers would tell her the age and gender of the child, she’d ask a few questions about interests and reading level and the like, and come up with something that got raves.

They did eventually succumb, in part because their landlord raised the rent on the store and in part because Wal-Mart sold most big-name toys cheaper than their tiny store could buy them wholesale. But I’ve always thought that had they owned their store’s own building, or been in a slightly larger town, they could have held on. If they could have found locally-made toys, that would have cinched it!

Our finances are very tight, and I don’t throw money away. But I’ll spend a bit extra, if I can afford to spend at all, for local expertise and quality.

This state-of-the-art meat laboratory supports technology and product development. The lab has full processing capabilities starting with slaughter for poultry and red meats. Further processed meats, such as franks, luncheon meat and fermented products, can also be produced. The lab is available to private companies for product and process development. A retail sales outlet for disposal of meat products produced in the course of teaching, research and extension activities is available to the public. Current prices are listed at (a web link).

I would much rather buy meat from them than random meat from Walmart. Besides I would figure that future USDA inspectors and such would take classes at the food lab.

With all the big box stores and the internet, the rules of commerce have changed. For your local mom & pop to compete, they will have to offer more service, a better location or something unique you can’t get at the local Walmart or Home Depot.