L e t t e r s Stray Smart-Shopper Column

This month., the Produce Section erroneously recieved a newspaper column intended for the West-Plains Reader/Gazette. We decided to publish it in case it never got to print. Smart Shopper By Sara Samuels Sara Samuels is none to pleased with retail-giant Wal Mart. Greetings to all of you Smart Shoppers out there! I hope all is going well with your bargain hunting! Alas, gentle reader, I have some sad news for you. This will be my last Smart Shopper column for the West Plains Reader/Gazette. For the past seven years, I have tried to give you lowdown on the best shopping in all of West Plains, Missouri. But, all things must pass, and this column is no exception. Unfortunately, since the Wal-Mart moved into this town two years ago, there has been little for me to report on. Many of our local stores, boutiques, and flea markets have dried up in the face of Wal-Mart's relentless marketing and "one-stop-shopping" allure. I have found that my last few columns were embarrassingly thin on my usual Smart Shopping info and most of my "Shoptions" have gradually become limited to Wal-Mart. When the West Plains town council was considering passing a motion to allow construction of a Wal-Mart four years ago, I used this column as a forum to trumpet the virtues of keeping our town Wal-Mart free. I thought that the character and charm of our little town should be kept in tact. Our unique history is what separated us from many of these other small towns in the Midwest. West Plains is famous for its Cherry Salt-Water Taffy, for being the birthplace of masking tape, and for being childhood home of Senator Orrin Hatch and actor French Stewart. I thought those wonderful things would be eclipsed by the long shadow of Wal-Mart and I voiced my opinions freely. Believe you me, many readers thought that I went too far in my columns (especially my comment that our Mayor had been abducted by "Wal-Martians.") However, at the time I thought I was in the right and tweaking the noses of the pro Wal-Mart people seemed appropriate. I fondly recall our first anti Wal-Mart meeting (reported in this very column) in Jerry Schnagle's backyard. We had a turnout of about 600 people! That was more than half the entire town population! It was a grand time: we all enjoyed some of Schnagle's bratwurst from his Deli and bonded in our common goal to stop the passing of Wal-Mart's proposal. And the celebratory party weeks later when the council voted against Wal-Mart's proposal (6-1 in a landslide!) was also a night to remember. Held at Anne's Frozen Custard and Crafts, we all cheered and basked in the glory of repelling Wal-Mart's advances! However, the superstore chain kept pressing. After our initial victory, it seemed that every month Wal-Mart had a new, modified store proposal before the council. More lawyers, public relations types and other Wal-Mart execs invaded our town; trying to win over the Mayor, council members, and other community big-wigs. They even tried to win yours truly over with their promises that Wal-Mart wouldn't cause urban sprawl, wouldn't muscle out the mom-and-pop stores, and would boost the local economy. They even promised me a spot writing a Smart-Shopper-esque column in their local Wal-Mart store newsletter! I rebuffed their efforts (with tart-tongued retorts) and continued to attend Tuesday night meetings at Jerry Schnagle's house. As time passed, those backyard meetings became smaller and smaller as Wal-Mart wore down our resistance. I knew the writing was on the wall when I found Jerry offering Wal-Mart Cola at one of our last get-togethers. The town council votes kept getting slimmer and slimmer until Wal-Mart finally won approval (4-3) to open a new store in downtown West Plains in June 2000 and the rest is history. I guess the odds were stacked against us: we had to defeat them every time, while they only had to win once. (For the record, I would have kept writing this column and shifted its focus to garage and yard sales but Wal-Mart's Community Yard Sale Outreach program has already got that area covered with their "Wal-To-Wal-Mart" news website.)