Hey, I thought this was a garden blog?

Yes, my friends, it is still a garden blog. But my life, like yours, is dynamic and ever changing. Sometimes I get on political rants, but sometimes I talk about flowers and vegetables.

Today, I'm going to make you an offer.

NO MORE SHOPPING AT BIG BOX STORES.

Can you dig it? I think I can.

Why, you ask?

Well, lots of reasons:

1) As quoted from yesterday's post: "A dollar spent in a locally owned business is worth three times as much to the local economy as one spent in a chain store." Sierra Club blog

2) The bike lock I bought at Target last night has to be taken back because it is garbage. Since when is MasterLock not something of quality?

3) They sell plants that are invasive weeds. Trey who owns a nursery up the road from me was actually in my area and stopped by Target (presumably, the one I went to last night), and located Scotch Broom for sale labeled as Azaleas. Scotch Broom is a noxious weed in El Dorado County and is outlawed for sale there (Folsom is on the edge of Sacramento County, and this store is ~2 miles from the Sacramento/El Dorado county line). As a concerned citizen, I contacted my County's Cooperative Extension office to see if the sale of Scotch Broom is prohibited in Sac County, and if so, guess what, Target Folsom has it for sale. See Trey's post about it here. And his post about Folsom's Costco selling redwood trees that are poorly suited to this climate! (Trey and I seem to have many of the same thoughts recently, as you'll see. Kinda eerie. Maybe I'm psychic too? Haha.).

4) Why Not Walmart? Enough said.

5) I have never spent a penny in Walmart, and I am proud of this fact. And how is Target any different from Walmart? They aren't. Sorry folks.

And it's not limited to these two stores. PetSmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens & Things, Old Navy, etc. The list goes on and on.

A few years ago I was in Champaign, Illinois for a family reunion. No lie, the shopping center with a Target and every other big box bookie cutter shopping center that you see was located int he middle of a corn field. I have pictures (see evidence below). Regionality was gone. No mom-n-pop places could be found. It was as if they lifted this out of any suburb and pasted it in the middle of a cornfield. (No I didn't take this picture on 3/20/08 - I was in Illinois in September 2005).


Big corporate business put local stores out of business and care nothing about their customers! Why do you think little towns like San Luis Obispo fight them tooth and nail from establishing in their cities?

Yes, I'm fired up. You don't have to agree with me on any of this, nor will my opinion be swayed otherwise.

So there you have it. My quest begins. I will formalize my rules, ala No Impact Man and post them soon. I hope to have a little badge on the side of my blog with a catchy graphic shortly. Perhaps this can be another challenge everyone joins.

bring it.

My $.02