BY DONNA WESTFALL
Another business bites the dust. How much has Wal Mart’s expansion and inclusion of grocery/food items affected other businesses in our community? I’d say A LOT.
Some employees have already moved out of the area in search of work. The owners maintain that they will absorb current employees in their other stores. C & K Market is the parent company to Ray’s and Shop Smart, which will continue to operate in Crescent City. President and CEO, Greg Sandeno, said that Ray’s in Smith River will remain open.
Will Safeway survive the competition and economic downturn? That remains to be seen. I certainly hope so. It’s not that I’m anti- Wal Mart. It’s just time for Wal Mart to step up to the plate and buy more locally produced goods, and more American made goods. Their history of supporting China’s economy in order for us to have lower prices has to shift. With that in mind, do any of the other grocery stores purchase produce, products, meat or fish from our locals? If they do, how much to they support our locals?
When the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors approved Wal Mart’s expansion, did they consider the other costs to the community? Was the trade off of Ray’s closing and perhaps other grocery stores closing discussed? Did they even suggest to Wal Mart that part of expanding needed to include more purchases from locals?
February 3rd Ray’s Market Crescent City will close.
You raise some excellent points! Since retailers commonly utilize long-term strategies when sizing up their competition, communitites should also think long-term about the ramifications of the mix of their retailers. We do not want to become too dependant on any single store or stores. We have to remember that the goal of any retailer is to create a monopoly (whether possible or not) in order to have more control over their prices and hence their profits. We do not want our towns to become “Pottervilles”.