[charlie_the_tuna]

hey road, all good ideas for the future but for now, it's gonna be pretty hard to tell a nine year old that he's getting a haircut or an oil change when he has his heart set on a helicopter and a skateboard.
we try to support local business when we can and as ace hardware is 2 miles and home depot is 5 miles, we go to ace when practicable. i just wish that more people would have felt this way when it was needed. it may have made a difference.
where i live there are no big retailers. we are a very popular summer destination so in the summer nobody drives their cars and we all stay within bicycle distance to home. that also helps our local economy but it's just a tiny spec on the landscape.
unfortunately we cannot act globally as nationally we are at almost 10% unemployment and the working class is carrying the 41% of our population who doesnt pay taxes. so when a walmart opens in a lower income neighborhood it becomes a mainstay for the lower class, which by the way is ever increasing in size.