Change on the prairie is remarkably slow at times. That's the way we like it. But change does come. Farming and ranching changes a little from year to year and progresses slowly toward an eventual new look, but without very much fanfare. Communities change with increase in population and school enrollment as others change with a decrease. But further, you can see the remnants from times past of once potential communities and hopeful homesteads that were left for different dreams.
Every now and then, a faster symbol of change occurs. The most recent was the going out of business of a store that has long served rural communities. It could have been quicker except for that it came by some sort of scale of percentages off until the inventory was gone. Granted, they were likely cycling in all the merchandize from warehouses but the incremental drops in percentage off was more like water torture.
I live 45 miles from three towns of any size, Yuma, Wray and Burlington. Each had an ALCO store; the one in Wray moved into a new store location not that long ago. The weekly sales flyer was always perused and kept until the next arrived, just in case. Downsized Wal*Marts would be a good description. The prices matched what you had in mind to spend. I have no idea of what happened to the company but with the now empty stores, I wondered if something else would come in. But so far, they're just sitting there, at least they were the last time I looked.
When my wife and I traveled though out Colorado and neighboring states, we found other ALCO stores and often stopped to get one thing or the other because that was the kind of stores they were. I suspect most of the ALCO's were in smaller rural towns. To me, the store closings just didn't seem right. They fit well. As long as you weren't looking for anything too exciting, you had a good chance of finding it there.
The ALCO stores no doubt caused some local stores to close and drew business from the larger towns that people made special trips to in order to get what they needed. The new stores must have found enough customers and became profitable. They eventually were the new norm, that which was expected, and the way it always was.
Sometimes it's hard to say if a change will be for better or for worse or for staying the same. It likely depends on who's saying it. But no matter, other factors come along that eventually produce the next change, whether subtle or dramatic.
Let me say, so there is no misunderstanding. I live here, but I don't have to make a living here. For the locals, that's a big difference. Many are religiously devoted to the local economy. But for several years now some people have gone more frequently to more distant and bigger towns to get better deals and choices, even as far as a two hour trip to Denver.
Of course, mail ordering now has a big impact. I'm sure the every time the UPS truck makes a delivery to our house, it will be another year before we'll be accepted into the prairie community. But both UPS and FED-EX deliver daily in this area, so I'm not the only one ordering from amazon. But we've also had SEARS and AMERICAN FURNITURE deliver. So it might be awhile before we ever get invited to a potluck or are recognized by anything more than the obligatory wave.
So, it makes sense that these, and perhaps several other factors, which are changes in themselves, came together to necessitate the closing of the ALCO stores. And now, they are just the remnants of a day not so long ago that serve to symbolize even more changes, but mostly in finding new places or ways to get what we need. If indeed, that wasn't something that was happening all along, but we were just too busy to think that much about it.
CREDITS: ALCO Stores, Miscellaneous Arts, Getty
When my wife and I traveled though out Colorado and neighboring states, we found other ALCO stores and often stopped to get one thing or the other because that was the kind of stores they were. I suspect most of the ALCO's were in smaller rural towns. To me, the store closings just didn't seem right. They fit well. As long as you weren't looking for anything too exciting, you had a good chance of finding it there.
Sometimes it's hard to say if a change will be for better or for worse or for staying the same. It likely depends on who's saying it. But no matter, other factors come along that eventually produce the next change, whether subtle or dramatic.
Let me say, so there is no misunderstanding. I live here, but I don't have to make a living here. For the locals, that's a big difference. Many are religiously devoted to the local economy. But for several years now some people have gone more frequently to more distant and bigger towns to get better deals and choices, even as far as a two hour trip to Denver.
Of course, mail ordering now has a big impact. I'm sure the every time the UPS truck makes a delivery to our house, it will be another year before we'll be accepted into the prairie community. But both UPS and FED-EX deliver daily in this area, so I'm not the only one ordering from amazon. But we've also had SEARS and AMERICAN FURNITURE deliver. So it might be awhile before we ever get invited to a potluck or are recognized by anything more than the obligatory wave.
So, it makes sense that these, and perhaps several other factors, which are changes in themselves, came together to necessitate the closing of the ALCO stores. And now, they are just the remnants of a day not so long ago that serve to symbolize even more changes, but mostly in finding new places or ways to get what we need. If indeed, that wasn't something that was happening all along, but we were just too busy to think that much about it.
CREDITS: ALCO Stores, Miscellaneous Arts, Getty
No comments:
Post a Comment