# When you buy from a small mom or pop business...



## mano (Aug 22, 2012)

A friend posted this on Facebook:

When you buy from a small mom or pop business, you are not helping a CEO buy a third vacation home.

You are helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a mom or dad put food on the table, a family pay a mortgage, or a student pay for college.

Our customers are our shareholders and they are the ones we strive to make happy.

Thank you for supporting Small Businesses!
(author unknown)


I have nothing against larger businesses as they're necessary to research, develop, produce and distribute goods and many services. We're a global society that relies on them and they're not necessarily the evil empire that's an easy target, especially in this economy. But when you drive anywhere, pay attention to all the small businesses that probably employs the vast majority of our work force.

How many of you are small business owners? I am!


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 22, 2012)

One thing about the knives and other things discussed here is that you can have a decent idea of where things were made and who made them, and then who sold them, etc, to you. You can appreciate it and it makes things a bit more interesting, doesn't it? It's hard to get that these days, and so maybe it's one reason why people get into the knife thing as they do.


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## Zwiefel (Aug 22, 2012)

I hope every good Mom + Pop become CEO's with 3 homes...it means they are providing a product/service at a price that people find is a good exchange. 


I am a (very large) corporate employee and small business owner (as has been my mother for 30 years).

Pesonally, I don't have a prejudice for or against either. My expectations are different for each though.


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## tkern (Aug 22, 2012)

Craig, what is your small business so that we may purchase from it?


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## mano (Aug 22, 2012)

tkern said:


> Craig, what is your small business so that we may purchase from it?



I'm a child, family and forensic psychologist. You may purchase my services.


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## kalaeb (Aug 22, 2012)

tkern said:


> Craig, what is your small business so that we may purchase from it?



I think most of us here could bennift from Craigs services.


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 22, 2012)

Do you do int'l orders and can I pay with PayPal?


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## mano (Aug 22, 2012)

kalaeb said:


> I think most of us here could bennift from Craigs services.



On the contrary, I think most of the folks here are sharp, to the point, have a strong spine, a good handle on things and want to cut through whatever is in front of them.


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## mano (Aug 22, 2012)

Cutty Sharp said:


> Do you do int'l orders and can I pay with PayPal?



I'll barter for Shigefusa's, or whatever else you have that's worthwhile.


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 22, 2012)

You drive a hard bargain. Sorry, no Shigs as of now. I may have to wait. :dontknow:


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## zitangy (Aug 22, 2012)

mano said:


> On the contrary, I think most of the folks here are sharp, to the point, have a strong spine, a good handle on things and want to cut through whatever is in front of them.



And if I may add... well heeled and take the edge to the limit...

personally, I prefer to do my buying form smaller shops especially neighbourhood shops. They know you.. after all these years adn I have attended to soem of their children's weddings. Its not a personal, personal relationship but a personal business business relationship.. When I go to the wet market, some of the vendors.. i hv known for more than 20 years.

rgds
D


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## tkern (Aug 22, 2012)

mano said:


> I'm a child, family and forensic psychologist. You may purchase my services.



My inner child wants more sharp objects.


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## Cipcich (Aug 22, 2012)

It always makes me feel warm and fuzzy to know that some part of every dollar I spend at a corporate outlet goes into the pocket of some rich . . .. I just just don't get that feeling when I buy from a mom-and-pop. Remember, corporations are people.


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## tkern (Aug 22, 2012)

Git cher Mitts off my Shigs


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## mano (Aug 22, 2012)

tkern said:


> My inner child wants more sharp objects.



Did you run with scissors as a kid, or was your mother a sharp-tongued woman? (remember, my jewels of insight here are worth what you pay for them)

Travis, I've seen your kit and wonder what more could you want?


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## ajhuff (Aug 22, 2012)

I agree with the sentiments but reality can be much different. Living in a town of 850, shopping options are slim pickins. We basically have Walmart and Home Depot. I get about 3 packages a week from Amazon. Amazon Prime is worth every penny.

AJ


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## tkern (Aug 22, 2012)

mano said:


> Did you run with scissors as a kid, or was your mother a sharp-tongued woman? (remember, my jewels of insight here are worth what you pay for them)
> 
> Travis, I've seen your kit and wonder what more could you want?



World peace and to buy the world a Coke

... and a sweet Solingen straight razor and a Carter Funy.


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 22, 2012)

ajhuff said:


> I agree with the sentiments but reality can be much different. Living in a town of 850, shopping options are slim pickins. We basically have Walmart and Home Depot. I get about 3 packages a week from Amazon. Amazon Prime is worth every penny.AJ



Seriously? Small town American, but only the big stores to go to - and if not the Amazon?


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## tkern (Aug 22, 2012)

Cutty Sharp said:


> Seriously? Small town American, but only the big stores to go to - and if not the Amazon?



I spent some time out in Kansas and Missouri and there are very few small shops. Just a McDonalds/Walmart/KFC every few miles.


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 22, 2012)

tkern said:


> I spent some time out in Kansas and Missouri and there are very few small shops. Just a McDonalds/Walmart/KFC every few miles.



Yeesh! :stinker:


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## ajhuff (Aug 22, 2012)

tkern said:


> I spent some time out in Kansas and Missouri and there are very few small shops. Just a McDonalds/Walmart/KFC every few miles.



Yup.

-AJ


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## AFKitchenknivesguy (Aug 22, 2012)

I try to support as many small businesses as I can, especially restaurants. My only gripe about individually owned businesses is the "pay a little more to support us", then I go and they charge significantly more than what I can find online or big stores. For instance, Walmart sells Colt M4's for $1079, but my local mom and pop gunshop sells them for $1299. Same exact thing. Come to find out many small shops buy out large stores and sell them at higher prices in their store; they do this with ammo a lot. I don't mind paying a little extra, but don't take advantage of me. That's why I love the internet, I can support a small business that doesn't worry about overhead (much), and can offer unique and competative prices.


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## The hekler (Aug 22, 2012)

I think the Internet for a large part has replaced the mom and pop store more then big box stores have. Think of the vendors we have here, would Mark be able to sustain his business without selling his great wood online, or Jon from JKI, or any of the knife makers? I don't know what there business models are like, but I know that although I will probably never meet most of them in person, by picking up a phone or shooting a few emails I can easily get a level of customer service rivaling any mom and pop shop.


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## Eamon Burke (Aug 23, 2012)

When Wal-Mart built a new, bigger Wal-Mart right next to the old Wal-Mart in my hometown, we lost:
A family owned video rental store
A local chain video rental store
A national discount store
A local discount store
2 Auto Parts houses(local)
1 local tire/lube place
All but one tackle shop(the town survives on fishing tourism, so this is a LOT of businesses and jobs)
A local grocery store
Several Gas stations
A kitchen wares and gadgets shop
2 clothing stores
An electronics shop
A hobby shop

That is just the places I know lost all their business because they built a Super Wal-Mart next door to the old Wal-Mart. There were other places that died on their own merit, like the Photo/Video place or un-successful retail shops. They built a public traffic light that only goes into the Wal-Mart parking lot. I swore off Wal-Mart when I saw the damage that it did, watched everyone go shop there like morons and spend their whole paychecks, lose their jobs because of themselves, and then end up wearing those stupid vests because guess whose business is booming and needs workers??

Several months later, I realized that there was no place closer than Corpus Christi(35 miles and 6 towns away) to buy a pair of socks.

Being active online helps mom-and-pops to survive. Being easy to google, having a helpful website, and high tech features like text/email receipts and notifications, newsletters, etc, really put a local store over the edge. Online retailers can't compete with having products to handle, no shipping, community relationships, and advertising(including word of mouth) that reaches an entire geographical area, not just a demographic.


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 23, 2012)

Nowhere else to shop for 35 miles? That's crazy, unless you're really in the middle of nowhere, which I don't think you are. I've never lived in a place where I couldn't walk a few mins to some small shops at least to buy groceries or whatever. Sounds like in some parts of the US Walmart is all there is. And what do you do if you don't own or want to own a car?


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## GlassEye (Aug 23, 2012)

You walk... to walmart.


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## mano (Aug 23, 2012)

The hekler said:


> I think the Internet for a large part has replaced the mom and pop store more then big box stores have. Think of the vendors we have here, would *Mark *be able to sustain his business without selling his great wood online, or *Jon from JKI,* or any of the knife makers? I don't know what there business models are like, but I know that although I will probably never meet most of them in person, by picking up a phone or shooting a few emails I can easily get a level of customer service rivaling any mom and pop shop.



They are both highly specialized mom 'n pop stores who probably do most of their business on the internet.


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## ajhuff (Aug 23, 2012)

7


Cutty Sharp said:


> Nowhere else to shop for 35 miles? That's crazy, unless you're really in the middle of nowhere, which I don't think you are. I've never lived in a place where I couldn't walk a few mins to some small shops at least to buy groceries or whatever. Sounds like in some parts of the US Walmart is all there is. And what do you do if you don't own or want to own a car?



Then you don't live here.

Takes me 20 minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store.

-AJ


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 23, 2012)

ajhuff said:


> Takes me 20 minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store.



I feel for you, man.


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## tkern (Aug 23, 2012)

When Walmart starts carrying Doi or Shig for 25% less? Its easy to call out stores like that because they don't have what you want. They develope because there was a need that they fulfilled. Everyone is on a budget.


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## ajhuff (Aug 23, 2012)

I buy what I can.

I buy my coffee from a local roaster. We eat out nearly every day and rarely go to a chain. I buy from the local farmers market and all the beef in my freezer was grown and slaughtered locally. Tires I get from an independent. But that's about it. Everything else that you can think of either has to come from Home Depot, Walmart or one of two medium sized chain groceries; bed sheets, clothes, TVs, electronics, computers, screwdrivers, pet supplies, etc. Or go on-line like I do, first choice always being Amazon. A little different here in that when they built Walmart 2 years ago it did not run anyone out of town. There was nothing here to start with.

-AJ


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 24, 2012)

tkern said:


> When Walmart starts carrying Doi or Shig for 25% less? Its easy to call out stores like that because they don't have what you want. They develope because there was a need that they fulfilled. Everyone is on a budget.



Hehe... Be honest, if those knives were ever to appear en masse at WalMarts everywhere, few of the forumites would want them. In fact current owners would probably want to sell. Wouldn't be cool anymore.


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## Eamon Burke (Aug 24, 2012)

tkern said:


> When Walmart starts carrying Doi or Shig for 25% less? Its easy to call out stores like that because they don't have what you want. They develope because there was a need that they fulfilled. Everyone is on a budget.



A budget is a fixed amount of money that you use to determine what you can buy, not a price you can demand everything you want to fit in.

I have stopped buying things because they contracted with Wal-Mart for shelf space, and lower prices. I've driven 45 minutes to go to Cabela's to get a pocket knife Wal-Mart sold 5 minutes away. Why? Because I hate them. They seriously annihilated the town I lived in, despite the fact that there was already a bustling Wal-Mart. In the course of about 3 years, around a dozen people I knew personally lost their jobs at local businesses and got a job at Super Wal-Mart, where they then turned around and spent every dollar. I knew people who were at that stupid store more than once a day, literally.

It's not about the fact that they sell cheap, disposable, dangerous, and useless goods at unrealistic prices. It's the fact that they are a knife small economies use to cut their own throats.


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## Cutty Sharp (Aug 24, 2012)

BurkeCutlery said:


> I've driven 45 minutes to go to Cabela's to get a pocket knife Wal-Mart sold 5 minutes away. Why? Because I hate them. They seriously annihilated the town I lived in, despite the fact that there was already a bustling Wal-Mart. In the course of about 3 years, around a dozen people I knew personally lost their jobs at local businesses and got a job at Super Wal-Mart, where they then turned around and spent every dollar. I knew people who were at that stupid store more than once a day, literally. It's not about the fact that they sell cheap, disposable, dangerous, and useless goods at unrealistic prices. It's the fact that they are a knife small economies use to cut their own throats.



Hear hear! However, this certainly makes life difficult for you. If things are this way, is it worthwhile moving elsewhere? If you need to travel that far to shop things are a bit extreme.


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## Eamon Burke (Aug 24, 2012)

Not for most things. There are options, tons of local people. I switched from a certain big box store to a local version, and got better products, lower prices, special ordering, friendly service, and tax breaks.

We wouldn't move somewhere that doesn't have any local business anymore, like our hometown. That is the main reason we didn't move back--the community sucks.


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## Cipcich (Aug 24, 2012)

Hear hear indeed. Dollars are votes in this country. How people spend their money to a large extent determines what develops. 
I was in a WalMart once, about twenty years ago, because my mother wanted a fan. I did not enjoy the experience. The next day I was in a local hardware store, looking for something else for my mom's house, and came across a much better selection of fans at prices as good or better.
I used to work with a guy who shopped at WalMart every day. In the end, I stopped taking my breaks with him because he was just too stupid to live . . .


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## chinacats (Aug 24, 2012)

Cipcich said:


> In the end, I stopped taking my breaks with him because he was just too stupid to live . . .



:rofl2:


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