Shop Local? Maybe Not!

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Wow I could not have said it better myself.
I remember the guests who were infuriated that I did not have the local coffee grounds place on my list.
They were here on a Thurs during the day and felt that I had something against the place. I told them they keep courthouse hours, when court is in session they are open. This mean Friday nights, closed, Sat and Sun closed. Court holidays, closed. So when our guests want a local coffee, they are never open, ever.
Meanwhile it has changed hands twice since those people complained. Big surprise.
There is another restaurant in front of a run down motel, where transients frequent, someone was killed there recently over a drug deal. It is worse than a homeless shelter. Garbage piled out front. This is what you see when you look at this little restaurant. They also called me to advertise on their big red plastic coke cups and told me off that I knew nothing about advertising by not doing this.
I mentioned to someone that I won't go there, I won't go and stare at piles of garbage and a run down roach motel while I dine. They thought I was the worst person possible...
 
I'm spoiled. This is a good little town for moms & pops. There aren't a ton of local places here but most of them are pretty dang good. But, yes, there is a fair amount of 'who cares' in 'local' stores. I think a lot of it is lousy training. Corporations have training manuals. You sign off. Someone goes back over it if you don't do it right.
Even me. I know some of the stuff I do/say here would get me fired if I worked at the HGI. But, hey, the curmudgeon part of the stay is complimentary!
 
Yes, that article is right on. I try to send all our guests to our local places, but have to be very careful where I send them.
We have a really nice county fair here...what do all the local businesses do? CLOSE their business during the fair so they can go! Really? With all those tourists in town??
Local parade? CLOSE their business as all those thousands of people line the parade route then hang around afterwards.
Several years ago I signed up for a c-u-r-v-e-s membership...they were closed mid day for lunch, closed at 5:00pm and closed on Sunday. Really?
Local burger place. We joke that the couple that owns/works it, wakes up each morning, look at each other and say "wanna go to work today?" We never knew if they were going to be open!
It's a challenge!
 
Yes, that article is right on. I try to send all our guests to our local places, but have to be very careful where I send them.
We have a really nice county fair here...what do all the local businesses do? CLOSE their business during the fair so they can go! Really? With all those tourists in town??
Local parade? CLOSE their business as all those thousands of people line the parade route then hang around afterwards.
Several years ago I signed up for a c-u-r-v-e-s membership...they were closed mid day for lunch, closed at 5:00pm and closed on Sunday. Really?
Local burger place. We joke that the couple that owns/works it, wakes up each morning, look at each other and say "wanna go to work today?" We never knew if they were going to be open!
It's a challenge!.
We have major corporations lining the main drag here. EVERY Saturday night in the summer there is a free concert in town. Not the local marching band, either. ALL of those stores close at 9 on the dot. The concerts get out at 9:30. Thousands of tourists who drove in from their beach venue to hang out, listen to some music and SHOP are just getting back into their cars and driving off.
I hear this every stinkin' weekend. 'How come the stores all closed? We wanted to shop! We wanted to eat! We wanted an ice cream!'
We have a local restaurant here that I like. It's down a hill. I tell guests to stand at the top of the hill and check to see if the 'beer' sign is lit up. No? They're closed. That could be at 10 PM or 6 PM. We know one of the wait staff. I heard him on the phone one night talking this woman into coming in 2 hours before she wanted to. He looked at me and said, 'She wanted to come in at 8. I want to go home!' They had no other reservations for 8 PM and none of the kitchen wanted to wait around, either.
But, we've got 15 restaurants I can send guests to, so it's not like they're the only place in town.
Just stopped into the local hole in the wall for a chocolate shake. The girl behind the counter is going ot bankrupt the owner. Everyone was ordering a 'small' cone and she was piling on the ice cream. I would bet everyone got 4 scoops by the time she was done.
 
Im a bit spoilt our restaurants are trained to operate on the conference center ie longer hours when there is an event on and so on. Lots of local cafe's which are high quality for lunch and lots of local shops to shop at - just a case of making sure people find them!
 
Yes, that article is right on. I try to send all our guests to our local places, but have to be very careful where I send them.
We have a really nice county fair here...what do all the local businesses do? CLOSE their business during the fair so they can go! Really? With all those tourists in town??
Local parade? CLOSE their business as all those thousands of people line the parade route then hang around afterwards.
Several years ago I signed up for a c-u-r-v-e-s membership...they were closed mid day for lunch, closed at 5:00pm and closed on Sunday. Really?
Local burger place. We joke that the couple that owns/works it, wakes up each morning, look at each other and say "wanna go to work today?" We never knew if they were going to be open!
It's a challenge!.
We have major corporations lining the main drag here. EVERY Saturday night in the summer there is a free concert in town. Not the local marching band, either. ALL of those stores close at 9 on the dot. The concerts get out at 9:30. Thousands of tourists who drove in from their beach venue to hang out, listen to some music and SHOP are just getting back into their cars and driving off.
I hear this every stinkin' weekend. 'How come the stores all closed? We wanted to shop! We wanted to eat! We wanted an ice cream!'
We have a local restaurant here that I like. It's down a hill. I tell guests to stand at the top of the hill and check to see if the 'beer' sign is lit up. No? They're closed. That could be at 10 PM or 6 PM. We know one of the wait staff. I heard him on the phone one night talking this woman into coming in 2 hours before she wanted to. He looked at me and said, 'She wanted to come in at 8. I want to go home!' They had no other reservations for 8 PM and none of the kitchen wanted to wait around, either.
But, we've got 15 restaurants I can send guests to, so it's not like they're the only place in town.
Just stopped into the local hole in the wall for a chocolate shake. The girl behind the counter is going ot bankrupt the owner. Everyone was ordering a 'small' cone and she was piling on the ice cream. I would bet everyone got 4 scoops by the time she was done.
.
Madeleine said:
We have major corporations lining the main drag here. EVERY Saturday night in the summer there is a free concert in town. Not the local marching band, either. ALL of those stores close at 9 on the dot. The concerts get out at 9:30. Thousands of tourists who drove in from their beach venue to hang out, listen to some music and SHOP are just getting back into their cars and driving off.
I hear this every stinkin' weekend. 'How come the stores all closed? We wanted to shop! We wanted to eat! We wanted an ice cream!'
We have a local restaurant here that I like. It's down a hill. I tell guests to stand at the top of the hill and check to see if the 'beer' sign is lit up. No? They're closed. That could be at 10 PM or 6 PM. We know one of the wait staff. I heard him on the phone one night talking this woman into coming in 2 hours before she wanted to. He looked at me and said, 'She wanted to come in at 8. I want to go home!' They had no other reservations for 8 PM and none of the kitchen wanted to wait around, either.
But, we've got 15 restaurants I can send guests to, so it's not like they're the only place in town.
Just stopped into the local hole in the wall for a chocolate shake. The girl behind the counter is going ot bankrupt the owner. Everyone was ordering a 'small' cone and she was piling on the ice cream. I would bet everyone got 4 scoops by the time she was done.
It's the same here in town/county. We are a tourist spot. Stores close at 5 PM? what? that's when people come back from the beach. They go home, then out to dinner, ice cream after that for the kids, and shopping. Nothing is open. It is mind numbing to think that these business owners don't get it.
 
I don't get it either. Local places here close at the whim of the owner. How can local people, much less tourists/visitors, know what their hours are when they do this? This town does not do a good job of supporting and promoting local businesses at all unless you are connected to someone important.
We have seen many local businesses come and go in our downtown area and we have not lived here all that long.
 
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