Peeved about Old Quilt Guild - I am venting here!

[GrandmaLKB]

It is very difficult in Small Town America for the local businesses to stay afloat when 60 miles away are the mega malls and big quilt shops. We buy local as much as we can and on the rare times, our local stores don't have what we want, we will go out of town. It always angered me when DH managed a Grocery store in our community and he and the other local stores would always donate to the churches, school projects, fundraisers, sports teams, etc, but THEN when it came time for those organizations to buy things, they would go out of town !!!! I was an officer in Music Boosters for a few years and hit the roof when they started talking of going out of town to buy stuff needed for a fundraiser right after the local stores had donated items. I'm sure as soon as I was no longer an officer, they went back to their old ways. :mad:

It WAS very rude and thoughtless of the guild to publicly state how much out of town shopping they were doing and planned to do in the future. Sure we all like to visit new shops, but that was completely uncalled for to publish it in the local paper!

Maybe there needs to be a Letter to the Editor about "SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES"???

[Oma]

Sometimes buying local becomes impossible. I always want to support the stores in my little town, but when I was replacing flooring I went to our flooring store here. I tried to get them to come out and give me an estimate numerous times over a three year period. They would make appointments then not show up. Always had numerous excuses. Finally, this summer, I walked into their store and explained how many thousands of dollars I spent in the past three years replacing my flooring and how many times I tried to spend that money in their store and why it didn't happen and how frustrating it was for me. Do you know what I was told? They took my phone number and told me someone would follow up with me. Never heard from them. Guess what? When I get around to replacing the carpet in my bedroom...won't be asking them. Too bad. I'm not sure how they stay in business, but I no longer care either.

People will shop where they are treated well, where the prices are competive, where it is most convenient, where they can find what they are looking for, and to support their local shops. I do that. I also shop out of town.

As for the local newspaper article...that's a whole other set of issues. We have a brand new Rite-Aid store going in and do you know that our little paper has yet to mention it. There is a LARGE building being constructed right on our main street and the newspaper office apparently hasn't noticed. I've heard it has something to do with them being against it being built to begin with so they aren't reporting on it. So much for unbiased news.

All that being said...I love living in my little town. I don't mind driving 35 miles to go to a bigger town to shop. When I leave there I also leave the traffic problems and the long lines.