Why it matters who owns local businesses

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons:




Why it matters who owns local businesses
McDonald's can't compete with the neighborhood coffee shop-- except in gross receipts

By Jonathan Rowe


Does it matter who owns our local businesses? According to the economics texts the answer is “No.” The only question is “consumer value” which is to say, how much we get for our money. We are one-dimensional creatures; our psyches are essentially those of wall-eyed bass with better math skills.

So ownership is not relevant. Business is essentially none of our business. So long as Wal-Mart offers the cheapest prices, we should welcome it to town. Ditto Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, and Dominos Pizza. They provide the most stuff for the least price (Starbucks excluded there) so what’s our beef?

Part of the answer comes from my old neighborhood in New York City. Not long ago, when you walked south on 8th Avenue across West 23rd Street, you entered a real neighborhood called Chelsea. (Actually Chelsea spilled north over 23rd to the Fashion Institute and the Penn South Towers, but the core was in the other direction.)

It was a realm of mom-and-pop shops and restaurants, the kind of place where you knew the owners after a few visits. New York used to consist largely of urban villages such as this, that existed paradoxically within the mega-city. I do not remember a single chain in Chelsea, except perhaps the McBurnie YMCA on 23rd, and a couple of supermarkets that were local chains. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2744

[Merlot]

1. Insulting readers is not a great way to start an article

"We are one-dimensional creatures; our psyches are essentially those of wall-eyed bass with better math skills.

So ownership is not relevant. Business is essentially none of our business. So long as Wal-Mart offers the cheapest prices, we should welcome it to town. Ditto Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, and Dominos Pizza. They provide the most stuff for the least price (Starbucks excluded there) so what’s our beef?"


Implying that everyone wants more stuff cheaper and would pass up a M&P to go to a walmart is generalization. There are many neighborhoods that have banded together to refuse walmarts (watts CA comes to mind). When the starbucks moved two stores within 3 block of each other to put the two local coffee houses out of business, what are my options besides passing up the starbucks? I can't bring back the small local stores.

[Hannah Bell]

2. The writer isn't endorsing that POV: he's stating the argument of those who promote walmartization.

there's no insult.

[inna]

3. Just noticed your sig line quote... I dig it.

:thumbsup: