plucky tree
It's the plucky ones that will surprise you most
wannabe housewife, foodie, pacifist, amateur chef & tennis player, libertarian, food rights & backyard chicken supporter, consultant @ flipboard, angel investor
shop small
You know a store is too big when you need Google Maps to navigate it:
Some of the big-box stores such as IKEA, Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Home Depot have already been mapped, but not Target. Not Wal-Mart. And not nearly as many malls as you’d like to see, especially in this holiday season.
Support your normal-sized, local, family-owned retailer!
a tale of two pharmacies
After spending much of my life going to big chain pharmacies like Longs, CVS, RiteAid, and Walgreens, my doctor recommended a small, independently-owned pharmacy in Palo Alto called Maximart Pharmacy.
It’s not that the thought of going to an independent pharmacy never occurred to me. I just assumed they were all long gone. In the case of Maximart, it’s way off the beaten path and you’d never find it unless someone told you about it.
It’s about the size of my living room, but has been such a great experience compared to the big chains that I thought I’d jot down some of the differences. For reference, Maximart is part of a retail co-op called Good Neighbor Pharmacy, which has 2,700 member pharmacies in the country, so find out if there is one near you.
Whole Foods guilt trip
Every time I go through Whole Foods checkout now, the following two things happen:
- If you bring your own bag, they ask you if you’d like to donate the 5 cent bag credit to a charity or take it off your bill.
- They ask you if you want to buy this bag that will feed 100 children.
Putting people in a situation where they basically have to say “No, I’ll keep my nickel!” and “No, thanks for asking, but I’ll let those 100 children starve!” isn’t a way to promote positive change in the world.
how I avoid shopping in chain stores
No matter where you live in the USA, chain stores are everywhere, providing a shopping experience for which there are many negatives:
- Homogeneous shopping experience that doesn’t reflect the character of the local community
- Low variety of products, while giving the illusion of high variety due to physical store size
- Money leaves the community and goes to a corporation somewhere whose obligation is to maximize shareholder value
- Difficult for local businesses to compete, especially due to municipalities giving subsidies and tax breaks to large national chains due to their more predictable revenue stream for property and sales taxes
- Stores commonly understaffed with people that lack knowledge and motivation, usually due to low pay and poor benefits
