What Kind Of A Bargain Would It Take?

[frawin]

I have been following this thread and it is a good lesson in human nature. A lot of what has been said reminds me a humourous conversation I have had about WalMart with one of my older sisters. She is always telling me how she hates walMart, how bad Walmart is to shop at and how none of the people like or want a WalMart in there community. I always tell her that I understand and that she must be right because Walmart has not been a sucessful business venture, does not do much volume and has never grown much.
To blame WalMart for what a bunch of rude, crude dumb people did seems unfair. We have shopped Black Friday for years and in many places, Dallas, Houston, Tyler, Texas, Midland, Texas, Denton,Texas and this year in Long Beach/Signal Hill California and I have never had people be anything but considerate and courteous. I have seen massive crowds, and seen people that lined up 24 hours ahead of time, but I have never seen people push, shove or be rude. My guess is there is more to this story than what has come out. Also I have spent time in new York over the years and I seen some pretty rude people. In fact every time I get together with an old friend that I worked and traveled all over the world with, we always have a conversation that starts out with"Somebody is going to have to get off of this Bus". That goes back to many years ago we flew into New York and stayed all night to catch a flight the next morning to London, the Hotel had a bus that went to the Airport every hour, we got on the Bus and it eventually filled up, there was only one seat left, a couple from New York got on, the lady looked around and announced" somebody is going to have to get off of this bus", she went on to say there was only one seat and two of them and they were not going to be late for their flight.
In any case WalMart is the largest retailer in the world and for a reason.
I remember once talking to a man in Mervyns in Midland Texas and he said "Damn I want to thank the Chinese for these low priced shirts", I said well be sure and thank them for the high priced Gasoline that is coming with those low priced shirts.
Frank

[S-S]

I have shopped at little gift shops and stores in El Dorado and other towns. I LOVE El Dorado's stores. I always find cute things at Triple S, Robin's, and all the other little stores down Main Street. The same with Eureka. I do support my local businesses. Probably more than some of our local forum members. I bank in Howard AND Eureka, we buy parts at Lanning's and Harrod's, sometimes order dinner from Poplar's, buy gifts from Traci's, send floral arrangments from K & K, buy tires at the co-op, and run into Cookson's when something breaks! But I cannot afford to buy everything here. I am out of town once a week anyway, so that's when I go to other stores. I never forget what I need. I'm not perfect but I am a control freak and organize everything. I have lists about lists.

But sometimes, those auto parts are cheaper from JC Whitney catalogs, gifts are cheaper online, and farm supplies have better deals in catalogs. There's always a better deal out there. There are only a few things we DON'T do locally. We do not doctor here, never have, never will. I think that's the only thing we do not do here.

But I do shop locally quite frequently. I don't mind supporting my town and my county. I like keeping my money here. But I like to get out of Elk County once in a while too. Actually, I LOVE to get out of Elk County. I just feel like it's hard to depend on the local businesses while trying raise a family. I don't feel confident that I could stay afloat if I had to do everything here. 

[frawin]

I buy lots of Ammunition of all kinds at WalMart, if someone can tell me a cheaper place to buy it I will do it. The Ammunition at WalMart is the same exact quality, brand etc as any place else.

[Tobina+1]

Well, if Elk County had everything we needed, we'd be Wichita (and it's funny that people from Wichita still drive to Tulsa, OK City, or KC to shop, too).  But we're very lucky to have the things that ARE here, and that we don't have to go far to get the things that aren't. 

[frawin]

In thinking back 40+ years ago, the people of Elk County went to GEM, Government Employee's Store and David's in Wichita, foerunners to K-Mart and Walmart, and  shopped for Christmas and other occascions, why, for the selection and the price, same reason they go to Walmart today.

[frawin]

I think this thread should have been labled "What Kind of Person Would it Take"??

[Lookatmeknow!!]

I am not trying to bash our locally owned stores either.  But on the parts from Lannings and such, if you ask sometimes he can get them for you and pretty cheap.  We do alot of our business through there.  I had to buy certain batteries for my smoke detactors at the daycare and they were 10.00 a piece.  Not sure what they would be at Walmart, don't really care.  I bought them at Cookson's because they had them and would order more for me if I wanted.  I am not trying by anymeans to step on any toes, but I just think the convinces out weigh the trips out of town.  I had to load up 3 girls and take them out of town to go shopping, wasn't fun before.  I am the type that likes to look over the items and make sure that I am getting the cheapest and best thing for my money.  I now LOVE to grocery shop.  I can go into Family Market get what I want and leave the kids at home with their father.  Less stress and hassle!!

[Clubine Ranch]

Well, if Elk County had everything we needed, we'd be Wichita (and it's funny that people from Wichita still drive to Tulsa, OK City, or KC to shop, too).  But we're very lucky to have the things that ARE here, and that we don't have to go far to get the things that aren't. 

Hummmmmmmmmmmm very well said and how very true. Nice little ray of sunshine on an overcast day!

[Warph]

We have Wal-Mart, the symbol of unfettered capitalism gone asunder.  We have the day after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday," where people are known to go crazy for 5 a.m. "doorbuster" sales at department stores.  ("You can't beat these prices unless you, y'know, go online!")  We have an apocalyptic unruly mob, only instead of racing fellow consumers for Soylent Green or the new Brawndo flavor, they want 20 percent off flat-screen TVs.  And we have the death of a Wal-Mart employee, trampled to death, as hundreds of avid customers skip over his body, unaware of the grisly death underneath their tennis shoes.  A pregnant woman was also injured in the bullrush.

This actually happened, right?  This wasn't some kind of viral video stunt?  Because that would somehow make more sense.

After reading comments in some of the News' threads, one central theme is clear. "This, my friends, is everything that is wrong with America," wrote one commenter. Another reader said, "How absolutely sickening! It just confirms my belief that Black Friday is the High Holy Day in the religion of Materialism when everyone bows down to the Almighty Dollar."

So this was embarrassing and quite sad for Wal-Mart, the employees family, for Long Island, and — sure — for the country.  What will be even more fun to watch, however, will be to see who the legal system assigns the blame on this one.  The mob?  The store?  Bush?  Obama?  Richard Jewell?  Or, here's a novel concept, perhaps they can rule the unfortunate death as an accident, poke society in its craw, and mumble a few words about self-control and the spirit of the holidays, and wait for the next strange circumstance to unfold.  Perhaps a man will leave his cell phone at a McDonald's with nude pictures of his wife, the pictures will show up online, and the man will sue McDonald's.  We'll just have to wait and see. http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/news/71375/

[pepelect]

You need an Ice Cream cone just to take the edge off.