EDITOR:
Family and privately owned and operated businesses in Gardnerville/Minden? There are many, large and small. Each one is evidence of individuals, and families whose lives and fortunes have been invested in their potential success.
What is the convenience of shopping at Walmart worth? Is it worth the loss of these businesses?
These genuine treasures of our communities, and, indeed, our society? Can you think of a jewel of a business, store or shop that will be forever gone, once a "super" Walmart opens its doors in Gardnerville?
I can sure think of a few, and I bet you can too.
"Gone fishing" was the sign I found on the door of a local business I stopped at a couple of weeks ago. I needed to buy a little something, and I knew theirs was the only store in Gardnerville/Minden that might carry it. I just thought that was great.
Something must be biting, and these ever helpful, hard working people were taking an afternoon to go and enjoy a little slice of one of life's simple pleasures.
My grandfather, who owned and ran a butcher shop, would occasionally do the same gone fishing thing. He was a very good butcher, and his customers would simply return the following day to buy their meat, and, of course, to find out how the fishing was. So that's what I did. Sure, I could have driven up to the north valley to buy what I needed, but, how would I then have learned how the fishing was?
Pros and cons of Walmart have been listed in letters to the editor. I'll not repeat them here. I will, however, make note of something that has been reported. That is that Walmart donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to various charities.
Nothing wrong with charitable donations, right?
Might it be, though, that these donations are made in order to foster a "they can't be all that bad" attitude? Might the donations be a shrewd business move, made so that customers can shop at a super Walmart? Not so that you will, but so that you can shop super Walmart without the guilt that you might otherwise feel? Guilt over the eventual demise of locally owned business? Guilt over the obliteration of these treasures of our communities and our society?
It's been stated, and repeated, that nothing can be done to stop Walmart from being built in Gardnerville. Being reported and repeated over, and over again, does that make it so? Here's a thought.
What if the super Walmart is built, opened for business, and few people shop there? What if super Walmart doesn't make it, and the property is converted to a combination roller rink, ice skating rink, Carson Valley visitor center, miniature golf course, community center, equine facility, Carson Valley convention center, drive-in movie theatre, indoor sports complex, Boys & Girls Club, senior citizens center, indoor orchid farm, petting zoo, indoor shooting range, and concert arena? What if?
Victor Brown
Gardnerville
