avoiding chains

does anyone try and avoid chain stores and restaurants? its something I haven't thought that much about till recently. and i guess in most cases I do avoid chains anyway but then yesterday i was on my way to ace hardware and remembered an independent hardware store nearby.

i can understand why people trust brands and chainstores - you know exactly what you're in for. its reliable.

for me the realization came when I thought that instead of giving my money to a local business I was giving it to some giant invisible company and the few people who run it/have stocks in it. this can't be good for the local people who run/own it and i'm helping this massive beast of a company become even bigger and more powerful. powerful companies scare me. companies are so faceless that thy can do almost anything and no actual person can be blamed.

i'm also reading a book right now by dave gorman about driving across the US and not using any chain for sleep/food/gas/anything. good read. got me thinking too i guess. daves point is that chains make everything/everywhere the same which is obviously true, but i'm more paranoid about the size of these things.

  Luke Fucking Hazard said:

holy shit, an interesting, well thought out post. lets mock it.

most franchises are independently owned and operated by locals.

More so as the recession becomes worse, people will turn to smaller businesses.

home depot? best buy? wal mart?

seems like most people go to the big ones

buy your meat in butchers rather than supermarkets

buy your veg fresh at markets as much as possible

buy your bread at a bakery rather than a supermarket

chains or convenience stores are fine for everything else. i do these three things and i reckon they cancel out whatever carbon bullshit the rest generates.

  chaosmachine said:

most franchises are independently owned and operated by locals.

this is a good point but they pay a hefty ransom back to the chain

  The Pod said:

More so as the recession becomes worse, people will turn to smaller businesses.

but chains are cheaper for a lot of things. so surely its the opposite?

  Z_B_Z said:

home depot? best buy? wal mart?

 

seems like most people go to the big ones

sometimes it seems unavoidable though. where else can i buy a door from round here?

  kaini said:

carbon bullshit the rest generates.

i hadnt even considered the carbon thing of all the transportation. another good reason to avoid.

Yeah, what really sucks is how hard it is to avoid chains if you're looking for particular things.

  Benedict Cumberbatch said:

  Z_B_Z said:

home depot? best buy? wal mart?

 

seems like most people go to the big ones

 

sometimes it seems unavoidable though. where else can i buy a door from round here?

join freecycle!

four very nice mahogany panel doors recently came up on mine - that's what reminded me

i would imagine your local groupn will be pretty active, so maybe set up a dedicated gmail account for it?

  Benedict Cumberbatch said:

  Z_B_Z said:

home depot? best buy? wal mart?

 

seems like most people go to the big ones

 

sometimes it seems unavoidable though. where else can i buy a door from round here?

 

 

i agree, theyre hard to avoid. theyre so prevalent that i just stopped trying bascially. but maybe im just lazy...

does anyone have an independent gas station near them?

we're lucky and unlucky to live really close to one. other than that i never see any.

not that we own a car.

i believe kitkat chunky is independent chocolate though. yes

  kaini said:

  Benedict Cumberbatch said:

  Z_B_Z said:

home depot? best buy? wal mart?

 

seems like most people go to the big ones

 

sometimes it seems unavoidable though. where else can i buy a door from round here?

 

join freecycle!

 

four very nice mahogany panel doors recently came up on mine - that's what reminded me

i would imagine your local groupn will be pretty active, so maybe set up a dedicated gmail account for it?

good idea. i'll look into it. we have something similar already where people just leave shit outside with a "FREE" sign on it. saw a nice table one of our neighbours putout but by the time i got down there it was gone. if you go to the nice neighborhoods you can get some good shit

Maybe you can shoplift at chains.

i furnished an entire three-room flat in amsterdam with free shit

we lived down the road from a dance studio, so we got a lifesize posable model for a coatrack

and also a mirror the size of an entire wall. that took careful manipulation to get up four flights of stairs.

a neighbour donated a telly and a friend donated a microwave. two gas rings, couches, a shower, a bed already in place. sorted.

  kaini said:

i furnished an entire three-room flat in amsterdam with free shit

 

we lived down the road from a dance studio, so we got a lifesize posable model for a coatrack

and also a mirror the size of an entire wall. that took careful manipulation to get up four flights of stairs.

a neighbour donated a telly and a friend donated a microwave. two gas rings, couches, a shower, a bed already in place. sorted.

here in Brooklyn, those in the know don't pick up anything off the street for fear of picking up bedbugs. sadly, i go to ikea and buy crap that breaks rather than picking up some cool old furniture with character free on the street.

i'm with ya on the avoiding chains idea. but no street stuff for me.

who gives a fuck. i buy stuff, unless i can make / bodge it myself. and i don't give a toss where the fuck it comes from. bollocks to the whole economy/capitalism/credit crunch/downturn/exploitation/socialism/whatever the fuck bullshit. i fon't give a fuck. as long as i get my noodles i don't give a fucking shit

Never drink a bottle of sake at 3am. This is what it does to you!

  The Pod said:

More so as the recession becomes worse, people will turn to smaller businesses.

In theory though large businesses have more money and thus are better equipped to survive when ppl slow or stop buying as much

  kaini said:

buy your meat in butchers rather than supermarkets

buy your veg fresh at markets as much as possible

buy your bread at a bakery rather than a supermarket

 

chains or convenience stores are fine for everything else. i do these three things and i reckon they cancel out whatever carbon bullshit the rest generates.

this is what I do.

i shop at walmart regularly

he (dave gorman) did a documenatry (with the same premise as the book you mention) called America Unchained (in case you didn't know).

chains are cheaper and have more choice under one roof... the little guy can't compete with that.

machines should think -- people should work

My wife and I shop in chain stores (mostly because the markup is smaller than in independent stores) but we go to independent restaurants more than franchise restaurants.

  keltoi said:

he (dave gorman) did a documenatry (with the same premise as the book you mention) called America Unchained (in case you didn't know).

 

chains are cheaper and have more choice under one roof... the little guy can't compete with that.

yeah i have the tv rip downloaded and ready to go. finished the book last night and was waiting to finish before watching. wondering if the tv version is shorter than the dvd.

its the same trip in the book + docu