Wednesday – Seeking out The Hometown Grown
Apr. 7th, 2010 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
.
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My husband and I were discussing last night where we should shop for food now that the local family owned store is gone. We started shopping there, originally, out of a belief that it is a good practice to shop from local vendors over big, national chains, whenever possible. We kept shopping there for other reasons.
“They were just so nice,” Jeff said. “When you walked in, they always said, ‘Hi! How’re you doing?’ You could be 20 feet away and they always made a point to talk to you. You walk into any other big store, no one cares that you’re there; you’re just a face in the crowd. And the cashiers at Klein’s didn’t ignore you and talk to each other like they do at the other stores.”
“They talked to each other, but they included you in the conversation,” I said. “It was sweet. They made you feel like you belonged.” Generations of local people worked there over the years. The teenagers who worked there grew up, moved on, married, and when their own kids needed a job they went to work for Mr. Klein, as well. He would remember their parents and I suppose that was job reference enough. It was a family thing. Those of us who were customers were part of the family, too.
I was trying not to cry again over the fact that Klein’s Supermarket was closing. “I know it’s just a business, but it’s more than that. They became part of our fabric, part of who we are. I don’t want to shop anywhere else, and I’m not eating grocery store cakes ever again. I’m just not; they’re gross. We have to find a local bakery somewhere before anyone else has a birthday.” I mulled over the idea of learning to bake myself, but I’m pretty sure cake baking is as much an art as it is a skill. I don’t want to take the time to learn how to get it right, and - as a diabetic - eating all my mistakes would not be very good for my health (not to mention my waistline).
“The box stores are soulless,” Jeff said. “That place had a soul. You could feel it when you walked in the door. I’m going to miss it.”
“It was a little shabby…” I said.
“No, it wasn’t shabby,” he corrected me. “It was worn, but it was clean and taken care of. The floor was the same on they put in back in the early 60s, but you could eat off of it. The freezer cases were starting to show a little rust on the sides, but they were cold inside. It’s not like they let everything thaw to save a few bucks. They took care of the place, and of the people who came there. We probably paid a little more than we would have at the other stores, but…”
“…we got more for money we spent there,” I finished for him. Small businesses don’t charge more because they are greedy, they charge more because they can’t order in the bulk quantities that box stores with a lot of different locations can and they pay more for the items on their shelves.
In America, we concentrate on saving nickels and dimes, but somewhere along the line we’ve lost our souls and our sense of community. I understand when you’re poor and every penny counts, but people who are middle class or richer will worry about saving a dime on a jar of preserves so they can have a TV in every room of their McMansions and designer clothes for themselves and their children.
We worry so much about convenience and about speed, but what are we in such a hurry for? Whatever road you’re on, it ends in a cemetery, my friend; you might as well slow down and take in the sights on your way there. You might as well get to know your community and the people around you. You may as well help your neighbor out. When you have the opportunity, you might as well shop where everyone will greet you by your name and when you have a complaint, the owner, not some customer service rep in India, will be the one who bends over backwards to help you out. Becuase 9 times out of 10, the neighbors you get to know turn out to be good neighbors.
Even if it costs you 10 cents for a jar of jelly or $10 more for a service, your neighbors are your best buy in ways that go beyond the meer cost of things. Use them whenever you can. Fair warning, though: you might develop relationships with people and when that happens you risk having your heart broken. On the up side, with each relationship, your heart grows a little bigger and stronger, so you find it will be able to withstand a little breakage now and then (not that it won't still hurt). I think it’s worth the price in the end.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
.
.
My husband and I were discussing last night where we should shop for food now that the local family owned store is gone. We started shopping there, originally, out of a belief that it is a good practice to shop from local vendors over big, national chains, whenever possible. We kept shopping there for other reasons.
“They were just so nice,” Jeff said. “When you walked in, they always said, ‘Hi! How’re you doing?’ You could be 20 feet away and they always made a point to talk to you. You walk into any other big store, no one cares that you’re there; you’re just a face in the crowd. And the cashiers at Klein’s didn’t ignore you and talk to each other like they do at the other stores.”
“They talked to each other, but they included you in the conversation,” I said. “It was sweet. They made you feel like you belonged.” Generations of local people worked there over the years. The teenagers who worked there grew up, moved on, married, and when their own kids needed a job they went to work for Mr. Klein, as well. He would remember their parents and I suppose that was job reference enough. It was a family thing. Those of us who were customers were part of the family, too.
I was trying not to cry again over the fact that Klein’s Supermarket was closing. “I know it’s just a business, but it’s more than that. They became part of our fabric, part of who we are. I don’t want to shop anywhere else, and I’m not eating grocery store cakes ever again. I’m just not; they’re gross. We have to find a local bakery somewhere before anyone else has a birthday.” I mulled over the idea of learning to bake myself, but I’m pretty sure cake baking is as much an art as it is a skill. I don’t want to take the time to learn how to get it right, and - as a diabetic - eating all my mistakes would not be very good for my health (not to mention my waistline).
“The box stores are soulless,” Jeff said. “That place had a soul. You could feel it when you walked in the door. I’m going to miss it.”
“It was a little shabby…” I said.
“No, it wasn’t shabby,” he corrected me. “It was worn, but it was clean and taken care of. The floor was the same on they put in back in the early 60s, but you could eat off of it. The freezer cases were starting to show a little rust on the sides, but they were cold inside. It’s not like they let everything thaw to save a few bucks. They took care of the place, and of the people who came there. We probably paid a little more than we would have at the other stores, but…”
“…we got more for money we spent there,” I finished for him. Small businesses don’t charge more because they are greedy, they charge more because they can’t order in the bulk quantities that box stores with a lot of different locations can and they pay more for the items on their shelves.
In America, we concentrate on saving nickels and dimes, but somewhere along the line we’ve lost our souls and our sense of community. I understand when you’re poor and every penny counts, but people who are middle class or richer will worry about saving a dime on a jar of preserves so they can have a TV in every room of their McMansions and designer clothes for themselves and their children.
We worry so much about convenience and about speed, but what are we in such a hurry for? Whatever road you’re on, it ends in a cemetery, my friend; you might as well slow down and take in the sights on your way there. You might as well get to know your community and the people around you. You may as well help your neighbor out. When you have the opportunity, you might as well shop where everyone will greet you by your name and when you have a complaint, the owner, not some customer service rep in India, will be the one who bends over backwards to help you out. Becuase 9 times out of 10, the neighbors you get to know turn out to be good neighbors.
Even if it costs you 10 cents for a jar of jelly or $10 more for a service, your neighbors are your best buy in ways that go beyond the meer cost of things. Use them whenever you can. Fair warning, though: you might develop relationships with people and when that happens you risk having your heart broken. On the up side, with each relationship, your heart grows a little bigger and stronger, so you find it will be able to withstand a little breakage now and then (not that it won't still hurt). I think it’s worth the price in the end.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-14 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-14 09:46 pm (UTC)I just like mom-and-pops, I guess. When you find a good mom and pop place (no matter what kind of service they sell), it has a whole different feel to it. :)