Since when has Walmart become a dirty word? The current name calling and uproar over the proposed Walmart store is nothing new, nor is it valid because a small minority of vocal dissidents took to the streets to demonstrate against said store location. It seems to me that there are a few disgruntled people who are prejudiced against the free market, and have taken it upon themselves to mind everyone else's business.
I believe that I am somewhat qualified to discuss the issue of a large national corporation locating an outlet in a small town and the effect on small family businesses. Back in the early 1960s our family grocery and meat market was greatly affected by that situation.
At this time a little history regarding the situation will be appropriate. The time was 1921. The Raggio brothers, Uncle Joe and my grandfather Charley opened the Raggio Brothers Motherlode Market on Main Street in Jackson, Calif. It operated successfully even with local competition for 40 years.
Although my grandfather died in 1955, and Uncle Joe took care of the Raggio ranch, my father and grandmother managed the business until it was sold in 1961. It was sold because even though we had many loyal customers, and had home delivery service twice per day, it could not support three different families. That became quite apparent when Safeway opened a new gigantic 15,000 square foot store and undercut our prices.
The result was our family got out of the grocery business and my father went on to a very successful career with the California Youth Authority, retiring in 1979 as assistant head group supervisor at Dewitt Nelson, Northern California Youth Center. My mother continued working part time as a registered nurse. My sister and I grew up, moved on from Jackson and are none the worse for the experience, and my grandmother continued collecting rent on the building until she died in 1976.
She could have done better if even half of the uncollectible accounts, numbering in six figures from the 1930s and 1940s had paid.
Grandpa believed that it was better to feed people especially during hard times than it was to collect money, and he was right - everyone made out ok. Oh yeah, the market continued to operate for another 15 or so years, and is now a deli.
Downtown Jackson continues to prosper to this day. Customers continue to be served except for the bars of which there are only two left. By the way, subsequently in the 1970s until the present Albertsons, Lucky, Kmart, Walmart, Lowe's along with a variety of national franchises have located outlets in the Jackson area.
In conclusion from my personal experience and from what I have witnessed in other cities and towns, the influx of "big-box" stores and various national retail/service outlets does not necessarily spell doom for existing small local businesses. Just beware of the local "Chicken-Littles" and do-gooders with too much time on their hands and an axe to grind.
C.V. Sledd Shearer is a Gardnerville resident.
