A few days ago, I received a letter from Orvis, the popular purveyor of top-quality sports clothing. We're closing your local Orvis store, the letter reported, but you can still purchase our stuff online.
This is my fault, I told myself. I've bought a lot of Orvis shirts and pants over the years, but their clothes are too expensive for me. I wait to make my purchases until I get a sales coupon in the mail--about twice a year.
Orvis has a local outlet near my home, staffed by super-friendly and helpful salespersons. If I forgot my coupon, a sales associate would give me the sales price anyway.
I shopped locally sometimes, but I usually bought my Orvis clothing online. It was more convenient for me. And now the local store is closing.
I wrote my first novel during the COVID epidemic and used a lot of printer ink to print my drafts. I had been buying my ink from Office Depot for years.
One day during the shutdown, I went to my nearest store, but there was no ink. The store manager told me it would arrive in a couple of days, and she promised to reserve a cartridge for me. I would be notified when it arrived.
Two days later, I received my notice and drove to the store. There was no ink for me through some mix-up (not Office Depot's fault).
I did what most Americans would do. I drove home, got on my computer, and ordered an ink cartridge from Amazon.
Amazon delivered the ink to my house in less than 24 hours, which was cheaper than Office Depot. From that day forward, I bought my office supplies from Amazon.
Now one of the town's Office Depots is closed. And again, it's my fault.
I grew up in Anadarko, Oklahoma, which was a thriving town when I was a child. I still remember the names of the locally-owned family stores on Anadarko's main streets: Zerger's TV and Appliances, Lovell's gift shop, Oklahoma Tire & Supply owned by the Hart Family, and DeVaughn's Pharmacy.
Then a Walmart arrived, and all those stores closed. Anadarko's downtown district is shuttered except for a marijuana dispensary and a good Mexican restaurant. And a new gambling casino is at the edge of town, not far from Walmart.
Americans have choices, and we usually make them for our own convenience. We should bring our own canvas bags when we shop for groceries instead of packing our food in plastic, non-biodegradable bags, but most of us don't. We should use cloth napkins at the dinner table to reduce trash, but paper napkins work better for us.
We should buy most of our household goods locally. We should patronize our community bookstore. But most of us don't do that.
Americans have made choices. We've chosen cheaper goods delivered conveniently to our homes over supporting our neighborhood stores.
As a consequence, we've abandoned the microenvironment of the past where everyone depended to a great extent on one another. Today, most Americans choose to be urbanites. The cities are more exciting and vibrant than the small towns, which are dying all over Flyover Country. And the cities are where the jobs are.
Nevertheless, we should respect those who choose to farm, start a business, raise a family, or retire in rural and small-town America. The heart and soul of America is in Flyover Country--the Heartland. It will always be so.
 |
| Anadarko. Photo retrieved from Facebook. |