Giving up Big Boxes & National Chains
I’m giving up big box stores. Like dairy products, this will take time to completely give up.
As it is I don’t go to the malls. The only time I go to a mall is to visit the Apple store in West County Mall. I hate the Galleria so much I haven’t been to see the Apple mini store there yet. I may never.
I despise Wal-Mart & Sam’s. I’ve never liked Lowe’s either. I thought Lowe’s was related to Wal-Mart but it seems they just have Wal-Mart like practices and equally ugly stores. During the battle to save the Century Building I gave up Schnuck’s since it was their development company, Desco, that was involved in advocating a parking garage over a marble building on the National Register of Historic Places (aka The Century). Desco is also behind the proposed Schnuck’s & Lowe’s at Loughborough and I-55 that includes taking of 18 homes.
Not a penny of my money will get spent in the new development. Same with the new development at the site of the old Southtown Famous at Kingshighway & Chippewa. Not a cent. I don’t want to reward the retailers and developers that build this crap in our city. The suburbs are full of horrid sprawl shopping centers. The city does not need to become like the suburbs. Are you listening City Hall?
Target has been one of my favorite stores since I was a child. No more. They are too Republican for me. The website BuyBlue.org gives Target a 17 out of 100 rating – not good. I emailed Target and got the following response from their “guest relations” department:
Target Corporation is bipartisan and works with both major political parties. We contribute to political candidates based upon our corporate business agenda. The recipients of any contributions from Target would be perceivedor known to be supportive of our business objectives.
That sounds good enough until you look a bit further. In the last couple of years Target CEO Robert J. Ulrich gave $4,000 to Minnesota Congressman Mark Kennedy. The following is from Kennedy’s website on Family Values:
It is alarming that a small minority has been successful at using the courts to advance a radical political agenda that undermines these values, including the sanctity of marriage. That’s why I am a proud cosponsor of a Constitutional amendment that upholds the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Furthermore, to prevent the courts from being corrupted by radical activists, we must have judges on the bench who will interpret the Constitution, not rewrite it.
Is this part of Target’s business objectives? Target is touting lines by openly gay designers such as Isaac Mizrahi at the same time funding anti-gay congressmen like Mark Kennedy. Target executives also made contributions to the Bush-Cheney campaign. Like I said, I am done with Target.
I do stop in to buy a few things at the Shop ‘n Save at Gravois Plaza a couple of times per week. I’ve discovered they are a bit too red-state for me so I will be making some adjustments and finding a new pharmacy.
My plan at this point is to focus my grocery shopping on Soulard Farmer’s Market, City Grocers, and German-owned Trader Joe’s (same owner as Aldi). The bulk of my dining out is limited to local restaurants so that won’t require any change. I buy music online through iTunes. I get my TV through Dish Network which had a good blue rating through a different site. Charter Communications, my high speed internet provider, also had a good blue rating (unlike SBC).
Home Depot will be hard to give up but I really don’t buy much there. As Spring planting season approaches I will look to local nurseries for starter plants. It will take time, thought and some good planning but I can change my shopping habits. We cannot afford to continue supporting big boxes and right wing stores. Our purchasing power speaks volumes.
I’m going to ask my firm, Schaller Realty, to join Build St. Louis – a local independent business association. I am going to use the site as a guide to find businesses and services. If you’ve got a local business and you don’t support right-wing candidates send me an email.
Oh yeah, I am writing this at locally owned Hartford Coffee. Good place, free wi-fi, check it out if you haven’t already.
– Steve
Ienjoy your blog a lot. St. Louis is a great city.
Given the mention of Lowes you might want to check out my latest blog entry. It doesn’t deal so much with them as a big box, as a weird name they picked for their store near my neighborhood.
[http://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.com/atlantalarry/2005/04/lowes_and_carto.html]
Your report about Target is very disappointing. I shop there often and I would prefer that they openly promoted progressive causes and candidates. I do find it odd given your statistics that many rightwingers complain about and boycott Target for whatever reason.
I admire your “conscious consumerism” but by your reasoning I guess you will be watching a lot of Fox News (61% Democratic ) as opposed to say Bravo (67% to Republicans) (According to choosetheblue.com). At least we can all use Apple (81% Dem) with a clear conscience.
[Target is pretty progressive with a number of things but then they go and give tons of money to right wing candidates. Makes no sense. As right wing as Fox News is the ownership actually gives more money to Dems and broadcasts the excellent Simpsons. Go figure. Bravo airs every gay show along with stablemate NBC with Will & Grace yet parent General Electric gives to social conservatives. Being socially conscience is difficult! – Steve]
If you are going to be doing spring planting, go to Bayers garden shop on hampton. I think that is how it is spelled. Anyway, they are reasonable, they have a pretty good selection, and they are a long time city business. Another great garden shop is sugar creek gardens. It’s in Kirkwood, and even though it’s not in the city, it is still a great local business. They are a little pricier than Bayers, but they offer a massive selection of perennials. What I usually do is get my basics at Bayers, and then I will go out to sugar creek to get the more unique things. If you are into daylilies, there is a great daylily farm about an hour or so from St. Louis in Owensville, MO. This is a great day trip. They grow all of the daylilies on site. It is really cool to see when they are all in bloom, and it is cool to support a small farmer. Both sugar creek and the daylily place have websites:
http://www.sugarcreekgardens.com
http://www.homesteadfarms.com
Don’t give up on Costco:
http://citycomfortsblog.typepad.com/cities/2004/12/kevin_kelly_coo.html
[Sorry David, Costco is out for me. I’ve never been a warehouse shopper anyway. The St. Louis Costco is 7.6 miles from my house in the wrong direction – into sprawlville. – Steve]
Check out Southside Garden Shop on Cherokee if you haven’t already.
As for Target giving money to Republicans, the company is a corporation and as such needs friends in legislative bodies. Like most corporations, Target doesn’t seem to care who those friends are as long as they help Target.
Wal-Mart is a coniving clip joint that makes me sick. They act as if we the American public are a bunch of stump jumping inbred hicks that believe there is nothing more important in life than sucking up to the Wal-Mart smiley. They have killed a lot of businesses and do not treat thier employees well but then again,with George B. up in the White House being a dumbass nothing surprises me any more
The one thing that hit me the most was your srping planting stores review….
I personally work at Bayers Garden Shop. We have a large selection…our Hampton Store is much smaller than our Imperial Store just south of the city…its a 9 acre lot with soo much to offer…
hey and maybe you can stop by and tlak to me…my nickname is Slim. Anyways…Bayers has the cheapest prices around with good quality products. You may find some cheaper at walmart or Home Depot, but you dont get the customer service that we give.
I was talking to a customer yesterday about a bail of straw he got at Home Depot…it was i dont even think 1/8 the size of ours and cost a buck more.
Mums- 5.99 each 10 for 55.00
Perrenials- 6.99
Assortments of Bushes and Shrubs, vegetable seeds, Grass seeds, fertilizer, rock, sod, trees.
You name it we got it…
COme to Bayers sometime and check it out for yourselves.
After the trip to bayers Garden, Stop by the Imperial Feed & Supply. Located about 1/2 mile from bayers, It is the large 136 year old feed mill. We carry many brands of pet food & supplies, Our prices are great and you cant beat the customer service.
Isn’t Target banning the Salvation Army from operating their collection drives outside their store during Christmas time? Don’t know the exact reasons for them doing that but it doesn’t sound too family friendly to me. Why would they ban an organization whose sole purpose is to help people who are down and out?
[REPLY – Why would Target ban them? Let’s see, because they are highly anti-gay! I’m quite giving but their red kettles is not one place that I give. Kudos to Target for standing up for equal civil rights. – SLP]
Here is a quote from an article on the subject ( http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04325/414938.stm ):
For several years, The Salvation Army was the only nonprofit allowed to solicit at Target’s 1,313 stores. That rankled other nonprofits that wanted a piece of the same pie. The Minneapolis-based retailer finally decided earlier this year it could not single out one nonprofit over another.
“Each year we’ve been receiving an increasing number of requests to solicit at our stores,” said Paula Thornton-Greear, a Target spokeswoman. “If we continue to allow The Salvation Army to solicit, then it opens the doors to other groups to solicit our [customers].
“Our key message is we wanted to be fair and consistent.”
This may or may not be the real reason but I find it acceptable.