More commercial shopping?

I guess the uproar in Churn Creek Bottom is alive and well again after a car dealership approach went south earlier in a bid for the land near the I-5 truck stop.

I guess I’m confused as to why build more when there are so many commercial vacancies right now in both Redding and Anderson.

Who will fill those vacancies when a brand new source is created? As everybody knows people will rush in to see what’s available, how low the prices will be and what quality will be offered at this new utopia.

We all are guilty of diving in to check them out. We rushed to the Downtown Redding Mall in the 1970s. That lasted a few struggling decades before it went dead and filled with offices.

We shopped the Mt. Shasta Mall with new and exciting stores that flourished for some time, but eventually fell prey to a declining economy. Today it is still hanging in there with three anchors, Macy’s, Sears and JC Penney’s and a few diehards I assume are still solvent. Triage stands in the middle of the isles are adding to the mix, lower rent space I assume, but seem to catch some traffic.

Down in Anderson, the Outlets are toughing it out to stay pretty much full playing off the new Wal-Mart Super Store. They apparenty seem to help each other.

We desperately need Prime 11 Cinemas to stay and people need to support this effort as it is an independent company and these are dying out as did our small independents of the 50s and 60s, businesses we counted on for our main purchases.

Time marches on and companies formed corporations, snowballing larger and larger.

It’s such a changing world and I keep thinking about what happened. Imports have replaced our exports. If you look at the conglomerates, they buy from overseas, even giant American companies that sought cheaper wages for employees.

I watched the “Walton’s” on television the other day and even in the show the local guy in the tiny town took in the first refrigerators. Dad John Walton ask Ike the store owner what he was doing with them. Oh, they’re the newest and best and I make $75 on each one I sell. “Do you want one John” Ike asked.

John replied, nope, the ice house keeps everything cold and we like it, besides, if I bought one, I’d go to Charlottesville and get one from the big store.”

Well, that put a kink in Ike’s thinking about his friend. Turned out Ike’s refrigerators had flaws and his loan was in total jeopardy. Walton, who just paid off his sawmill, through much deliberation with the wife, decided to take their extra money and bail Ike out of the mess and all friendship was restored.

I guess wanting modern things started way back in the early 1930s and 40s, that old concept of thinking bigger and better and cheaper.

Anyway it was just a television show, but based on real times. Even back then people were desiring more modern conveniences. It’s just that back then, they just came a whole lot slower.

With so many places to shop it does complicate one’s life, takes gas and overall, how much is it really saving. You can take those coupons from stores miles away and you try to hit them one at a time, you are burning up a lot of fuel in your car.

That means you have to make your trips count. Okay the new mall has some good deals, but so do the other malls and shopping centers. So you will either bite the bullet and buy it all at one spot and save the gas, pay more, or travel 30 some miles to save with the coupons and burn up the gas. I guess like a lot of things it’s the lesser of the evils.

Everybody knows who wins in this game, the government gets taxes and fees and a few people go to work to try to save money at all the brand new shopping centers.

I’ve heard two stories. One the commercial vacancies are down 10 percent. The other sounds more realistical at 50-60 percent. Maybe a new poll should be taken to see what is truly accurate.

I’m not against moving forward, but we have some farm land that could be used to grow food for our tables. And I like nothing better than home-grown produce. Fortunately there are still farmer’s markets, roadside stands, one at Happy Valley and Canyon Road and one across from the new Cottonwood Elementary School on Gas Point Road.