But Wendys is a local store. So is McDonalds. I recognize the people there and they recognize me. Same with Bank of America, the branch where I go almost every day and that's one place I want to be well known. But those are poor comparisons, unless you buy your sandwiches on-line.
But some very large and well-known on-line places like Cabela's have a lot of big stores, too. That's when it becomes more of an issue for buying guns and stuff, only there isn't one around here. There's a Gander Mountain in Fredericksburg and another one near Winchester (ought to be one near Remington, too, but there isn't). But none of this is new.
Do you not think local merchants were grumbling when Sears was sending out their thick catalogs that had everything from celluloid collars to horse collars and everything else inbetween? Wal-Mart has nothing on them; they're just doing better now.
Of course there's another side to it. If you had a job in your home town and always went across the river to do your shopping and everyone else did the same, pretty soon there wouldn't be anywhere to shop in your home town. That's the balance of payments done small. Only just as often people shop in their home town and go across the river to work. Sort of muddies the clear thinking.
I'd say the biggest thing the local gun shop offers is a living person on the other side of the counter. From the gas station to the bank to the gun shop, it is the employees that draw me in as much as anything else (whether or not they can stand the sight of me). In fact, when I bought my last (meaning most recent) pistol, the clerk who sold it to me was a woman. She was a little rough around the edges and Middle Eastern to boot but she was a likeable person to deal with.
