Heart of the City by Steenz for February 27, 2010

Unfortunately, too true.

Yes, & sad too on many levels.

Don’t forget Radio Shack, Best Buy, and hh gregg. Forget Circut City, it no longer exsists.

What keeps me coming back to any store is polite, personalized service. At it’s heart, that is what the big box stores killed. For that they should never be forgiven.

Ain’t it the truth! Same thing here in the UK.

The people who work at the big box stores come from the same community, so if you don’t get polite, personalized service it’s more a reflection of where you live, not the big box mentality.

Times change, folks; sad but true. Right now, a premium is placed on getting the same goods for less money. I don’t need a salesman’s help in answering questions when I can find out what I need to know long before I step into the store. In fact, the only reason I need a store is to see the item before I buy it, and I don’t trust shipping for things like electronics (big-screen TVs and such.) What would the smaller shops offer that I can’t get at Walmart? Nothing, really.

By the way, I say this as a small-business owner; we provide services instead of goods, though, so we can compete on price as well as on providing better service than the big box stores.

i try very hard to shop local and get personlized service .

there seems to be only two big box stores that the employees care and know what they are selling : Container Store and Sears.

Soooooo true!!!

Ahhhh, Sears-Mart and Penneys-Mart …. Never mind, I’ll take Big Lots/Odd Lots!

Not to mention death, taxes and no family members willing to continue the business.

My favorite diner closed because no one wanted to continue the business. And a hobby shop, also.

Small town just down the road has kept Wally out for years. they have a thriving downtown, a historic village feel and attitude and many have worked for years in the same place and many families have shops that have been there for decades.

With all respect, wantto, it IS a big box attitude simply because they don’t value their employees and that filters down into the service that’ given. They feel that anyone can do the job and if you don’t like it, they can find someone else. Surest way to make them treat their customers with equal dismissal. That’s the management style as opposed to the small business style that wants to keep the good ones and let the folks who don’t have a kind word go. It can become an infective attitude that goes into the city where the Wally is stealing business, too.

I get so overwhelmed going into to “bigbox” stores - they’re just too big. And at Wal-Mart, I can never find anyone from whom I can get information. I prefer small stores.

Philly had a lot of department stores and they were supplanted by Macy’s. I think Boscov’s took over others.

I live outside Philly, and the many communities along the Main Line still offer small stores with selective merchandise and individual service. But then, the Main Line is famous for being where the quietly rich live.

For the rest of us, I’m very happy a Wal-Mart opened about three miles away. And if I don’t like it there, it’s almost across the street from one of the largest mall complexes in the country, with both big box and boutique stores. Take your pick and don’t complain when others pick differently.

You’re expecting pleasant, courteous service from people who are getting screwed over on their wages, overtime and benefits and who can’t organize a union without getting canned??? Good luck finding them.

Lovely strip.

Any other Terry Pratchett fans here? (The Broken Drum, in more recent books The Mended Drum - You Can Get Beaten)

pardon me - had to ask!

I got it, kfaatz925.

The worst thing about mass marketing on the local level is their adhereance to the sameness- (only the same merchandise in every state of the union!!) If you are going to shop local- look to stores that take into consideration your REAL weather (not just a “season”) and products that ONLY your area may need (here in AZ, citrus plucking sticks and black light flashlights for scorpions) and that’s just 2 in the hardware area.

I go it too, kfattz – my avatar Detritus’ first job was bouncer at the “Mended Drum.”

BTW, back in 1970 my boss (at Eaton’s department store) told me I was giving my customers “too good service!”

rerun