Where everybody (still) knows your name
"You can drive all the way up to New York City on Route 80 and pull off at Clarion or any of those towns and you'll see a Wal-Mart up on the hill, you'll see a Perkins, maybe a Burger King. And you pull off and drive further in and you'll see an empty town that looks like a neutron bomb hit it."
I'm currently watching the documentary "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices". The quote above was spoken by a former small business owner who, yep, you guessed it... You've heard the same story a million times over. But as someone who grew up along the I-80 corridor in rural America, the picture is accurate. In the last two decades, a lot of small businesses have gone under because they couldn't compete with cheap. I'm not a Walmart hater. I don't particular enjoy going there, but you can't fault a company too much for finding a way to achieve massive growth. On the other hand, no need to give them too much praise either. Blood has been shed. I guess it's just frustrating that in the price war, the ones left scattered on the battlefield are the mom and pop businesses who specialized at one-on-one service but in the end, couldn't compete with Every Day Low Prices. Sure, we have it all now. But along the way, we lost a lot too. When was the last time you had a nice experience and a pleasant aftertaste shopping at Walmart?
Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I like the experience of walking in and knowing the guy behind the counter or cash register. Staying to shoot the breeze without the pressure to buy something. Having my "usual" on the grill or in the cup before I order it. I'm thankful I can make a living running a business that is still service oriented, one-on-one, and quality focused. A business that Walmart can't touch. Yes, even perhaps a little bit Mayberry in a New York sort of way.
