Shop Trenton 1st ... Why?

[Metalingus]

As with any town, local retailers & businesses would hope that the towns citizens would shop locally to help support them & of course the town. I agree with that, but what I do not understand is why some of the businesses in Trenton think it is ok to price gouge to fill their greedy pockets. Few examples I noticed of some of our local merchants going a bit too far with price gouging:
Sonic Drive-in ( Privately owned by the Clarks, Humboldt is part of national chain )On average, the cost for any combo or meal deal is $1.40 higher than any Sonic in our neighboring towns.(#1 combo in Trenton is around $6.25, in Humboldt, same exact meal is around $4.90) Gasoline, Trenton is usually around 10 cents per gallon higher than surrounding towns like Milan & Humboldt.
Trenton Cable TV Co. Way over priced, extremely poor quality & rates an F on the Better Business Bureau.
There are more, but you get the point by now I hope. There are a few establishments in town that do match prices of towns surrounding us & I applaud that. But why would I spend extra money to shop locally if I can save maybe a few cents going elsewhere even factoring in the gas spent? With as crappy as the economy is right now, and not signs of improvement, that change saved going to other towns for items adds up. & unfortunately stimulates their towns economy, not ours. A few of the local merchants will blame Walmart for under cutting them. Yes Walmart has the ability to mass purchase, thus can sell cheaper than the mom & pop merchants. But raising prices is not going to draw customers away from them. People may be willing to pay a little more IF the quality of service is there, But from what I have seen, few of our local stores could give a damn less if you come in or not.

So, again, If I can save money & get more for my dollar, even after factoring in gas expense, Why would I shop locally?

[Snarky]

Because our Mayor keeps telling us to.

[town folk]

What is open past 5:00 in this town? The hardware store, ACE, is never open when you need anything. Closes at 5:00 during the week and at noon on Saturday.

I guess Trenton is dead anyway, so we should just let it go.

[roge]

Why is an out of town construction co. doing the work on the downtown park? There's not a bunch of idle construction folks here in Gibson Co????

[eddie s]

Trenton is OK for shopping if you only want the cheap shlock Fred's or Dollar type stores. Deaton's is half OK, Food Rite is limited, too, and more expensive for good produce. When you can drive less than 12 miles and find somewhere better, and 25 miles to find a bigger range of stores with much better choice, why not? Being a Trenton patriotic shopper is not worth the hassle.

As for food, give me a break. Set aside the fast food crap of McD and Sonic types and there is nothing here.

The best, absolute best, thing in Trenton is the road out.

It's a pathetic wide spot in the road.

[Snarky]

eddie s wrote:

Trenton is OK for shopping if you only want the cheap shlock Fred's or Dollar type stores. Deaton's is half OK, Food Rite is limited, too, and more expensive for good produce. When you can drive less than 12 miles and find somewhere better, and 25 miles to find a bigger range of stores with much better choice, why not? Being a Trenton patriotic shopper is not worth the hassle.
As for food, give me a break. Set aside the fast food crap of McD and Sonic types and there is nothing here.
The best, absolute best, thing in Trenton is the road out.
It's a pathetic wide spot in the road.

I wouldn't go that far. Some business men were here this wk to decide if they want to bring a large factory here, I hope if they read your comment it doesn't influence their decision.

[G-Man]

Majestic, El Vallarta, and the Chinese Buffet place all do a lot of business during the week at lunch and Majestic and El Vallarta are both absolutely packed from Friday night thru Sunday. It's not just Trenton people eating there either - I've seen people from Dyer, Milan, Humboldt, Rutherford, Alamo, Yorkville, etc. in those. Not too shabby since there is supposedly "nothing here"!

eddie s wrote:

As for food, give me a break. Set aside the fast food crap of McD and Sonic types and there is nothing here.

The best, absolute best, thing in Trenton is the road out.
It's a pathetic wide spot in the road.