big chains

[HerDaddy]

Does anybody agree that it is kind of sad that the big chain stores kill the little mm and pop stores.....like Blockbuster killed my little neighborhood video store and i like that store. Wal-Mart , and CVS kills the little pharmacy and Borders/barnes and Noble have killed the little bookstores. THe world is becoming one big chain...what do you think...any other examples?

[Max Whittaker]

No exsamples but It is sad.


I don't even feel comfortable in such a big store. Give me a good old fastioned little Good time store any day.

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Can't we all just get along?

Live long and prosper.

What if I die an old maid in Avonlea without ever being kissed...or swooned?~Felicity King

[Jo_Polniaczek]

We only have one chained store here. And Subway is taking over Pump'n Party, whne Pump'n Party was there first...

[JoPol_wannabe]

all I have to say is God bless for the little man

[Meg07945]

We don't have that many chain stores where I live. In our town, we have 0 fast food resturants. Both of the pharmacies are family owned. And our only supermarket is a local chain..and the only one in town.. so I don't know

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~Meg~
*Opportunity does not knock, and then ring the doorbell, and then knock again, and then leave a note that says, "Sorry I missed you" and then call you on the phone.*
+Life's not a garden, so stop acting like a ho+

[lesliem14]

A family hardware store was just put out of business. We know the family really well and went in there all the time. They got put out of business by the "Super" Lowes that sits next to "Super" Wal-Mart and across the shopping center from the Blockbuster. Every time I go to Wal-Mart I get so frustrated because of the parking situation and then I usually am on one side of the store, have walked to the other side, and then I forgot something on the other side. My Mom admitted she sends my sister and me because she can't stand it either. Our small bookstores have held on because we haven't been invaded by the chain bookstores. One of the things that bothers me is that the super W-Ms tries to be a grocery store which its not (please start hiring baggers!!) Stores like Kroger try to be more like W-M, but they need to concentrate more on food and not carrying all these different products that make no sense for a grocery store to carry. Find your niche and sell that. The regular W-M's, without the grocery section like the one where I go to college at are fine, but I can't stand the super Wal-Mart in Frankfort. We're supposed to be getting a Meijers and a Home Depot in Frankfort in the next few years. More chains and shopping centers. Anybody wants a good story I'll keep you updated on the Cracker Barrel saga. It borders beyond ridiculous.

[Madness]

I agree with the Blockbuster statement. Blockbuster put out EVERY video store in my town(there were about 7 of them) in about 7 or 8 years except for Video Update but that's next. They have 47 cent rentals just to keep up and the one where I live is ALWAYS dead! Anyone, going back to Blockbuster, it put out my favorite video store I went to since day 1. They'd always give me movie posters they wouldn't use or after they'd take them down they'd be mine. I actually bought all of his video shelves to be his 'last' customer. I got about 6 shelves for 40.00--they go for 80.00-100.00 a piece so I made out good. They are in excellent condition, too. I bought them because my brother wants to open up a video store one day so now he doesn't have to buy the shelves! They hold DVDs too just in case videos are gone one day like beta! Well, I'll shut up now I think.

Just thought I'd post my VERY LONG opinion.

[HerDaddy]

Originally posted by lesliem14:
A family hardware store was just put out of business. We know the family really well and went in there all the time. They got put out of business by the "Super" Lowes that sits next to "Super" Wal-Mart and across the shopping center from the Blockbuster. Every time I go to Wal-Mart I get so frustrated because of the parking situation and then I usually am on one side of the store, have walked to the other side, and then I forgot something on the other side. My Mom admitted she sends my sister and me because she can't stand it either. Our small bookstores have held on because we haven't been invaded by the chain bookstores. One of the things that bothers me is that the super W-Ms tries to be a grocery store which its not (please start hiring baggers!!) Stores like Kroger try to be more like W-M, but they need to concentrate more on food and not carrying all these different products that make no sense for a grocery store to carry. Find your niche and sell that. The regular W-M's, without the grocery section like the one where I go to college at are fine, but I can't stand the super Wal-Mart in Frankfort. We're supposed to be getting a Meijers and a Home Depot in Frankfort in the next few years. More chains and shopping centers. Anybody wants a good story I'll keep you updated on the Cracker Barrel saga. It borders beyond ridiculous.

Awesome response...exactly what I was saying. I do want to hear about the Cracker Barrel saga

[LaverneShirley]

Blockbuster is the big video store in your towns? Here, Hollywood Video is where everybody goes. Blockbuster has some competition. I don't kow much about big chains take over little stores, 'cause pretty much all I've ever known is big chains. I've barely been in any small, family-owned stores, ad the ones I have been in never had what I was looking for. Not that that means they weren't good stores; they had other stuff I liked, just not the exact thing I wanted.

[Meg07945]

Our closest Blockbuster is 1/2 hour away, so we never go there. THere is only one video store in our town, so everyone goes there. It's family owned.

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~Meg~
*Opportunity does not knock, and then ring the doorbell, and then knock again, and then leave a note that says, "Sorry I missed you" and then call you on the phone.*
+Life's not a garden, so stop acting like a ho+

We have a Blokbuster and Hollywood Video here. It's like 60 % of the people go to Hollywood and the rest go to Blockbuster because Blockbuster is a total rip off. But we have some little family owned stores here also that sell the videos that aren't in Blockbuster and Hollywood, but you have to go al out of your way just to even find one. And it's like thatr for the book stores and hardware stores too.

[lesliem14]

Here's the Cracker Barrel saga for all interested. I'm going to try to make this as simple as possible and some facts have become fuzzy over the years (yes, it has been that long!). For those who don't know, Cracker Barrel is a southern style family restaurant that started in the south and has gradually spread.

About five or six years ago plans were drawn for a new shopping center (W-M/ Lowes were the anchors) in Frankfort. The center would sit right on the I-64 interchange and Cracker Barrel soon appeared wanting to build a new restaurant in what I think is the most poorly laid-out shopping center (Whenever I go there I utter about a dozen cuse words at other drivers). The first hitch is that Frankfort has a zoning law that limits the height of signs. Cracker Barrel wanted to erect a sign that would be clearly visible from the 64 and draw travelers. The city commission was not going to compromise on the zoning laws at this point, so Cracker Barrel began looking for a different location. Their sights were/are set on a piece of land that is adjacent to Frankfort's other I-64 intersection on the east side of town. They want to build the restaurant on the Lexington side of 64, which will draw Frankfort sprawl into the beautiful horse farms that line US 60 between Frankfort and Lexington. Maybe three or four years ago the city commission illegally changed the zoning of the land where CB wanted to build. The people who live in that area banned together and challenged the zoning change in court and it was overturned. The CB saga died down again until recently when it reared it's ugly head again. Evidently the zoning regulations are going to be changed legally this time so CB can build there and could erect their sign because that regulation has since been thrown out. Currently, thats where its been standing at. Frankfort is reaching it's limit of expansion. The West side, where I live is running out of room and the sprawl will be going down US 127 next. The next space people will be looking at is going towards Lexington by the horse farms which many people in Frankfort and the surrounding communities are dead-set against. The pure ridiculousness (is that a word!) of the situation is that if you live on the West Side you can hop on 64 and be at the CB in Shelbyville in about 20 minutes. People on the East Side can get to the one in Shelbyville or Georgetown in 20-25 minutes. It's not like they aren't around. If I was smart about the whole thing I should have clipped the articles from the time this started because it would make one interesting college political science paper (I'm a poli sci major).

There was a Seinfeld ep. about that sort of thing. It was the one in which Mom & Pop's dry cleaners was put out of business and was replaced not by a major chain but by a trendy coffee-and-cookies shop run by these Gen-X punks!

In real life, that sort of thing happens in my parents' neighborhood all the time. Right now, we have more convenience stores that one would ever need in a lifetime.