Sometimes I am so
self-centered. For the past three and a half years, I have written about myself
on this blog, a total of 702 posts! Sure, I’ve written about kids in Peru and
Kenya and other places around the world, I’ve shared some sad stories and some
uplifting stories about others. But generally it has been about me, my family,
my travels, my dog.
I paged through my weekly
hometown paper tonight and remembered that even when the world is so big and I
want to journal about it all, there still is this little place in Wisconsin
that I come home to.
So, in the spirit of Garrison
Keillor, here is the news this week from Hatchet Creek.
Notification went out on
Friday December 6 that Shopko had bought out the Stoxens Pharmacy. Earlier in
the spring Shopko had bought out the locally owned and run Northbay Pharmacy.
That alone caused quite a stir around town. Shortly
after that first buyout, Shopko began construction of a building north of town,
which opened just last month. Touted as Your Hometown Shopko, there isn’t a lot
of feeling towards the store being about any hometown of ours. With the demise
of the latest (and last) locally run pharmacy, sentiment is that our town is
being sold out to big business.
Yet our hometown roots run
deep. On Saturday, the 7th, there was a memorial service for our
town’s biggest claim to fame. Jay Leggett, Hollywood actor, writer and director
had died of a heart attack the opening day of deer hunting season. The irony is
that just a few years ago he had produced a movie about the sacredness of the deer
hunt in northern Wisconsin. What better way to go than by doing what you love.
One thing few of us love here
in the Northwoods is the unseasonably cold weather we have been having this
month. We know where we live, and we accept that the morning temperatures will
be below zero come January. But the first week in December the thermometer shouldn’t
register that low. The fear is what will January bring? Besides a plethora of
ice shacks on the lakes.
Or what will next week bring
for that matter? We’ll see if anything exciting happens in my hometown in the
next week. Until then, that’s all that’s new in Hatchet Creek where all the
women are stunning, all the men are burly, and all the children are addicted to
their smart phones.
Just one of the sorrows in our town in the winter.
5 comments:
You have that right about Shopko and the closing of our independent pharmacy. It's just very sad.
It is indeed sad, my little hometown of New London, (at least I consider it my hometown because my grandparents always lived there & we moved so often) has suffered, I remember the Coast to Coast store, the little bakery with the biggest crisp elephant ears, the little girls store where some of my cutest dresses & my first teenage bikini were brought. My grandmother, mother & I would walk downtown, have lunch, ok, now I'm crying. Will todays teenager have those memories? Somehow driving to the mall, texting your friends (who are sitting right next to you)& eating at Panda Express in the food court doesn't bring warm fuzzy feelings to mind.
I worry all the time about what kinds of memories the upcoming generation will have. Certainly none of the warm fuzzy memories we all have.
It's sad to see any small business close its doors. They work hard to cultivate meaningful relationships with their customers. As good as those relationships might be, consumers still buy based on price. Stoxens and Northbay know this to be true and surely made decisions to sell based on this fact. Customer service matters but we'll sacrifice it to get a better price. From what I've heard, the Shopko parking lot is full of cars. The same cars that used to drive to Rhinelander or Merrill Wal-Marts. In the end, the residents will vote with their dollars, not their words. I guess we have to wait and see if Shopko coming to Hatchet Creek is a good thing, or not.
I'm really glad I found your blog. I hope you continue to write about Tomahawk from time to time.
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