Guest columnist
While my husband, Paul Thomas, was on the bench of the 18th Judicial District, he heard a case, which I have thought of often in the past few days. We were leaving the Sedgwick County Courthouse for lunch when a clerk caught Paul in the hall. The small claims docket had just been called and a litigant demanded a “real judge, not one of them temporary fellahs.”
The facts of the case are immaterial, except to say the plaintiff felt he had not received value for his money and had been poorly treated. The representative of the vast company he had sued was amused, pointing out that the law was undoubtedly on the defendant’s side.
The plaintiff was a middle-aged man, obviously uneducated but with great, natural dignity. Paul explained to him that, unfortunately, he had to rule for the company and he explained why. The plaintiff said slowly, “You is tellin’ me they is in business for theyselves and not in business for the peoples.” The conglomerate’s representative found this hilarious and laughed. Paul shut him up promptly and said, “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” and then addressed the defendant’s agent. “Like me, Mr. McKay has seen your employer’s many ads proclaiming how much the company loves its customers. Mr. McKay and I will, in future, take your firm’s benevolence with the proverbial grain of salt.”
The decision to close our local Duckwall was a corporate decision, from which there is no reprieve. One of my friends asked, “What’s the big deal? I haven’t been in there for years.” I pointed out that I often send family members there and was told that any of them were welcome to ride along on shopping trips out of town. I’m afraid I snapped back, “Gee. What a treat!”
The fact of the matter is that any conglomerate’s concern for customers is limited to cash and cash only. That such a firm’s policies and decisions affect local communities in its service area is irrelevant — do these hicks think we’re “in business for the peoples?”
However, having lost Duckwall, refusing to shop at a larger affiliate of Duckwall damages Marion County more than the ALCO chain, which is certainly only in “business for theyselves.” By traveling further to patronize a still larger entity, we are hurting only ourselves. The Walmart Corporation determines the products it carries, not on what local consumers want and need, but on national trends. And if that gigantic chain decides its current regional stores must go, where will we shop? Wichita? Kansas City? Mail order? How many catalogs offer laundry baskets?
How often do we buy drugs off the Internet and then go running to the local pharmacy when we need expert explanations or immediate help? We are all guilty. I claim, “I only shop out of town for what I can’t purchase locally.” But when I’m in that huge store, I find myself picking up merchandise that I know very well I could buy in Marion. My rationale — “Well, I’m already here.”
As a community, we need to take a good long look at ourselves. Are we going to sit back and expect the equivalent of Wendy’s replacing McDonald’s in Hillsboro? Hillsboro worked to make that happen. Does a dime store chain serving small communities even exist? Could a locally owned “five and dime” make it? Maybe not. Not unless we make a habit of walking through its doors. If such a business is possible, I guarantee the owners would not only “be in business for theyselves,” it would be in “business for the peoples” — their friends and neighbors.
Marion has always been aware that mindless, indiscriminate growth can be negative to what makes a community individual and truly itself. Don’t rationalize this. This is a loss, pure and simple. A store, which has been very important to Marion since before World War II, is gone. Should we get mad? Wring our hands? Or do something about it? It’s up to us.