(HOST) Writer, storyteller and commentator Willem Lange thinks that one of the best ways to fight the slumping economy is to buy local.
(LANGE) One of my favorite people was the late Leon "Bin" Dulac, the owner of Dulac’s Hardware in Lebanon. I never stumped him with any request. If he didn’t have it, he could get it; but most of all, he understood what I was looking for, and why.
If I ever remarked about the cost of something, he’d point to the parking lot out front. "You see my Jaguar out there? Somebody’s got to pay for it." He claimed to be losing money on everything that went out the door, but admitted to making it up in volume. Bin’s sudden death, some years ago, was a heavy blow to all of us who liked him as much as we depended upon him.
By contrast, when I was pricing composite decking for our house last spring, Mother, who’s a habitual big-box shopper, talked me into trying one. The decking is pretty expensive, and a small difference in price would make a big difference in the cost of the whole job.
We wandered through mostly deserted aisles, and found the decking. A 16-foot piece was about a dollar less than at a local lumber yard. "This isn’t the right color," Mother said. "Let’s see if they have the one I want."
No one in sight but a few homeowners poking and pulling at piles of building material. I went on a hunt and found a salesperson in plumbing. "Hi," I said. "Is there somebody here who can answer questions about the composite decking over there."
"The what?" I turned from his vacant expression, returned to Mother, and got out of there.
All our lives we’re taught we get what we pay for. Yet, in spite of evidence substantiating that, when the time comes to buy, we try to get around it. We grouse about losing American jobs, but we buy imported goods almost exclusively. We pass vacant storefronts on our way to the big boxes with never a thought about the vitality we’ve lost in our town centers or the gasoline we’re burning to get away from them
If we let our downtowns die – or let them be dominated by shops catering to tourists – we have ourselves to blame. Vacant storefronts or show windows filled with goods we don’t need or can’t afford are an affront to community. Store owners clinging to life in the face of corporate competition are our friends and neighbors. If you were an electrician, wouldn’t you be upset if the owner of a store you patronized hired an out-of-town outfit to wire his house? The money we spend at local businesses stays in town for a few more rounds before it leaves.
After 40 years in the Connecticut Valley, Mother and I are settling into central Vermont. I’ve found a barber, a doctor, a dentist, a lumber yard, a church, a bookstore, a pharmacy, and a notary public. Oh! and a fantastic hardware store. It ain’t Bin – there’s no Jaguar outside and nobody inside insults me yet – but it’ll do. It’ll do just fine.
This is Willem Lange in East Montpelier, and I gotta get back to work.