How much can you be bought for? Apparently very little. Have you ever really analyzed what you buy, and how much you spend on it? People cry out loud about cheap Chinese imports, low quality, and Walmart. I can tell you that Walmart is no different than Kmart or Target. This article isn’t about Walmart, but I want to get something cleared up here first. People say, “I won’t shop at Walmart because they sell cheap foreign stuff, undercut competitors and shut down little stores, don’t allow the union in for fair wages, don’t give benefits, don’t give enough hours for a living paycheck, and encourage their employees to get food stamps,” to which I ask, “How is that different from Kmart or Target, Kohl’s or Mervyn’s, Sears or JC Penney, or anywhere else you shop other than the grocery stores and big chain foreign owned drug stores?” Take a look for yourself.
Also, there is a myth that unions provide benefits and fair wages in the retail world. Ask anyone who has a grocery store job since the last contract negotiations. I won’t get into that here, but you know I will later. What does that have to do with this article? We created this mess because we are cheap. We shop bottom dollar because we are on budgets. We buy our cheap stuff wherever it is lowest price, no matter who made it. For instance, let’s see how cheap each area on the Central Coast is. We can compare with dollar stores.
Let’s start with Paso Robles. Paso has a Dollar Tree next to Target, shared with Templeton. There have been a lot of nice homes built up there, and you would think they could afford to shop at a decent price, without having to resort to the Dollar Tree. Amazing enough, this is the least busy Dollar Tree I have ever seen. When I go in there, they have people shopping, but not in the quantity I see at other dollar stores. Maybe some of them are in there for the air conditioning, or maybe I just haven’t been there at busy times. They do have a big Walmart that is busier than any place else in town, and a Kohl’s with mid priced stuff. There seems to be a middle priced shopping experience that would indicate they have more than just cheapskates in town.
However, they still have a Dollar Tree, and it apparently is busy enough to stay open. Yes, they sell the cheap stuff there, usually made overseas. However, most places you shop at any more have stuff from overseas. Pay attention to the labels. You will see that you cannot escape it, no matter where you shop. It is what it is. We are cheap. So, Paso and Templeton share a Dollar Tree, how about other areas?
How about Atascadero? They have a cheapskate’s shopping paradise together. You can shop at the Dollar Tree, Food 4 Less, and Goodwill without having to leave the parking lot. There is also some fake dollar store about a block away from there. They have cheaper stuff but charge more. It’s one of these “dollar or more” type stores. I’ll deal with those in the Santa Maria section. Yep, you are going to get it too.
Atascadero Dollar Tree has lots of coolers with food, and every time I go in there, it looks like they are running out of cold stuff. I guess the people in Atascadero love their cheap shopping. You can get your food, clothing, furniture, figurines, and toys all in one center. How convenient is that? Cheapskate Mall. They even have a Kmart in town, something Paso hasn’t had since about 1980, if my memory serves me well. Atascadero would be a better cheapskate zone if they had a Walmart though. It is coming, despite the best efforts of the naysayers that are fighting it. Don’t they realize you can’t fight city hall, and you can’t fight a big company with money and lawyers? Maybe they need Erin Brockovich. Didn’t she live around here for a while? Never mind. These people are probably too cheap to pay her to research all of this anyway. By the way, did you know that Hillary Clinton was on the board for Wal Mart while her husband was governor of Arkansas? That was back when Wal Mart had lots of growth and profits. Coincidence? Back to our fascination with cheap junk.
Morro Bay has a small Dollar Tree, and for the size, I would say it keeps rather busy. Maybe it’s because of the retired people trying to scrimp and save that dime that is so precious to them in their old age. I am not even talking about summer, when all the tourists are here. Of course, I mean however many tourists manage to afford the gas to get here. They are cheap anyway, because I think the valley may be where the dollar stores were born. Maybe not, but I will just say it anyway. That is where I first encountered them. I remember shopping at one in Hanford on my way home several years ago. Ah, Hanford. There is a wonderful place to shop. They have built that up so much, they now have almost a super center Walmart there. They have so much cheap shopping available, it almost makes me want to move there. Then I remember… IT’S HANFORD!
So anyway, Morro Bay seems to be pretty cheap, but I am willing to cut them some slack because we must respect our elders, and if they want cheap Chinese figurines that have eyeballs painted on the nose instead of where they belong, plastic serving utensils that melt, or imitation Jordache cologne they can mix with the perfumes they buy at garage sales, then more power to them. I applaud them for being resourceful and banging their own drums. At least they are making it. I wonder if Jack LaLanne shops there.
A number of years ago, there was a place in Morro Bay that sold dents and bents. It was a little grocery place that had things from surplus and damaged items. It was pretty cool to be able to go in there and buy things real cheap just because it had a dent in it, or because nobody bought it at the real store. Of course, that meant you loaded up on a lot of off brand stuff and stuff with weird names and flavors. It was still good, though.
San Luis Obispo has a larger Dollar Tree, but no coolers. The only food they have would cause cancer in a rat if they ate too much. Well, if they ate too much, it would probably make them explode first, but it’s all junk food, with a few cans of soup and bread. How am I supposed to survive on that? They get some good selection of other stuff, though. Sometimes I find little treasures that I have to buy, like the full line of Tiki stuff to decorate my home. Now I feel like I live in Hawaii without the endless beach and bikinis. Have you seen how long the beaches in Hawaii are? Neither did I, I was watching all the bikinis like you were.
There was another store over by the college called Buck Wild. I figured it would do real well because it was over by the cheapskate students. I would think they would be the first to clean out the place. Once the price of gas started climbing, they had to sell things for $1.25 instead of a dollar. SLO is so cheap, they didn’t want to pay the extra quarter. How cheap is that? If they would have sold kegs, they would have had more students shopping there. Let that be a lesson for anyone that wants to stay in business in that part of San Luis Obispo. Kegs.
Then we have the Dollar Tree in Arroyo Grande, next to Spencer’s and the new Applebee’s. First of all, I haven’t been in that Applebee’s, but I can’t imagine 5 cities needing a Huckleberry’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s, Baja Fresh, AND Little Caeser’s. Okay, I guess pizza doesn’t fall in the same class with the others, but I love that $5 pizza they have. I guess that makes me a cheapskate, too. I love it when the Santa Maria Little Saeser’s has the mascot on the sidewalk. Pizza pizza. I missed them when they left Kmart. Oh yea, they also have Kmart and Walmart there. I guess 5 Cities must be pretty cheap. They have a bunch of thrift shops, too. Oh, and don’t forget the Cookie Crock Warehouse for cheap groceries.
I notice that they have so much cool stuff in there. I think the company sends cool stuff to Arroyo Grande, then sends the rest to the other stores. How fair is that? That means I have to stop in the Arroyo Grande Dollar Tree every now and then to see what I am missing. Oh, and don’t buy just one thing to see if you like it. It won’t be there any more when you go back if it is any good. You need to buy a bunch the first time. If you don’t like it, make gift baskets with the rest of it. You can buy the baskets there for a dollar, too.
I guess Arroyo Grande takes the cake for cheap stuff, right? Wrong. Besides, all the residents seem to be spending money on food, so they can’t be THAT cheap. Who is cheaper? Lompoc. Wait, I’ll get back to Santa Maria in a bit. I want to visit Lompoc, because they have a really big 99 cent store. Is there a Dollar Tree there? I get lost in their 99 cent store, so I haven’t explored for a Dollar Tree. They also have a huge Wal Mart. It’s not as big as the one in Hanford, but for the size of the population, it is really big. I remember I used to travel through Lompoc on my way home from Santa Barbara just so I could stop in the Wal Mart there. Santa Barbara does not have a Walmart. In fact, I don’t think they have a Dollar Tree or 99 cent store. I guess they aren’t cheap there.
Of course, we have to remember that the reason they built such a big Wal Mart is because they expected the shuttle launches to bring a lot of people into the area. They had no idea that the thing would blow up and cause a rethink of the whole space program. I still don’t see why they had to cancel the west coast operations. That stinks, after all the money they spent modifying the base to accommodate the shuttle. I was looking forward to seeing our crowning achievement “in-your-face-you-commie-cosmonauts” proof of our space dominance multiple use space vehicle take off from our home venue. Who am I kidding? I probably wouldn’t get up that early anyway, and just watch it on the news like I do now.
That brings us back to Santa Maria, the commuter town for Santa Barbara. It would appear that people who work in Santa Barbara have to shop at cheap stores when they come home to Santa Maria. Maybe that is why there is a Wal Mart, Kmart, Kohl’s, Mervyn’s, Dollar Tree, Grocery Outlet, 99 cent store, and the day old bakery stores. I love shopping there. I won’t spend the money on their products in the stores because I think they are too expensive. Every now and then, I will pop into the bakery stores and load up. Yummmm. Don’t forget that Santa Maria also has about 6 thrift shops, including a Goodwill. There are a BUNCH of wannabe dollar stores and a couple malls there, too. Have you seen those?
The Dollar Tree there is really big, and next to it is a wannabe dollar store, and a mall. You walk in there, and see people at their little booths like a mini swap meet waiting for customers to come in. They have cheap stuff, especially the electronics stuff. The clothing and underwear are much like you would find at the Nipomo Swap Meet, including socks in bundles. There is another one of those places just down Broadway on the other side of the street, and another one on Blosser. You walk in and wonder how they have enough business to keep them open.
I mentioned the wannabe dollar places, and there are a few of them. There is one really big one in what used to be a bank building on Main St. It is amazing how cheap the area is. Maybe it’s because it is hard to get a good paying job in Santa Maria. Maybe it is because the commuters to Santa Barbara spend so much on gas. Maybe because it sucks to live in Santa Maria. Who knows? I am not saying that Santa Maria sucks, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot to do around there. Where are all the good paying jobs? Not in the mall, not at the restaurants, not at Wal Mart. I guess maybe Wal Mart is no different than any other employer. What do you think?
People think small, shop cheap, and complain big. Think about what you are doing in your own shopping habits next time you complain about Wal Mart or Kmart. Look at the cheap junk you are buying. They will continue to sell us that junk as long as you are willing to buy it. You will never have change as long as you are willing to buy their stuff. If you are going to complain about one store, don’t shop at the others, either. They are ALL the same. That is why we are so cheap around here. We buy cheap and encourage cheap employers. We need an educated employment base to encourage good paying jobs to come to the area. I don’t think it will change soon, though. I give up.
What is my point here? We are cheap, we live cheap, we think cheap. Everything we do is because we think small. We don’t look at the big picture. We look at our immediate needs, then complain when we don’t like what we see. Get real, and look around you. Be aware of how you contribute. Yes, we really ARE that cheap. You bring it here, you encourage it, and you support it. We will always be cheap.
I remember when San Luis Obispo had an enclosed mall attached to Gottschalk’s. In fact, I was there the night the jewelry store got robbed. I was only a few stores away when I heard the crashing glass, screaming and yelling. That night I had been in a store called “Just A Buck” or “Only $1″, I don’t remember which one it was. Santa Maria had one, and SLO had the other. It was funny because instead of scanning things, the cashiers simply counted items and put the quantity into the register. I remember commenting to one of them that they must have the easiest job in town, but they didn’t like my comments. They especially didn’t like that I kept walking up to them and asking how much something was.
They had quite a variety of things, but didn’t make it. There is some speculation that the one in SLO didn’t make it just like all the other stores in that mall because the guy that owned the mall was chasing out tenants, knowing he was going to be foreclosed on. I just think they didn’t make it because there wasn’t a call for it at that time. I say that because they were not terribly busy, and the one in Santa Maria closed also. I think that qualifies as a determination that our Central Coast was not as cheap then as it is now. How cheap are we? You KNOW you are cheap when you wait to find something at the 99 cent store instead of the Dollar Tree because it is cheaper there.
The Opinionator
