Goodbye Big Box

I was shopping in a big box store Saturday, which, I admit with a certain degree of chagrin, I frequent all too often.

Not anymore.

It was crammed with pushy people and aisles displaying junk that I don’t need.

I shop the box for items to stock my bathroom and laundry room. Always looking for ways to save time, I usually wind up buying my week’s worth of grub there too.

There were a score or more checkout stands, but only a dozen or so were manned by employees, who, for the most part, act as though they would rather be anywhere but there.

After waiting 10 minutes to pay for my purchases, I was forced to return to my car for my driver’s license to verify that I was indeed the individual listed on my personal check.

I was tired and sick and really wanted to go home, not dash across the parking lot dodging testy shoppers in SUVs.

I have never bounced a check in my life. Why are these periodic audits on my checks necessary? If I told a local retailer my ID was a block away, they would likely let me slide. Not the corporate big box though. They see customers as merely percentages on sales reports.

I must admit I was a bit surly when I returned to the store. Sorry. When I eventually escaped, I wondered how much bread I had really saved. Two, three dollars?

Local grocery stores carry the food I need and discount store has a large stock of toiletry items and Tide. Why, when I have the opportunity to purchase stuff from my neighbors, do I instead settle for getting it from strangers who could care less whether I enter their store?

That was when I signed a pact with myself: I will never enter a big box store again. They neither need nor want my money. And although I don’t spread it around all that much, local merchants are glad to see my cash, and even me.

I call upon local business owners to keep their products current. If an item exceeds its expiration date, yank it off the shelf. I know you are the little guys facing corporate giants, but strive to keep your prices competitive.

I also call upon my neighbors to patronize local merchants. If they earn profits, they can afford to expand and thus hire more working stiffs like us who are simply trying to put food on the table.

At the risk of sounding like a pinko, this calls for solidarity, folks. Let’s support main-street markets, not capitalistic businesses bent on making a buck above all else.