Archive: Opinions

Local business owners know an uncomfortable truth: Lansing is not good at supporting its local businesses.  Few speak out, because they want to appear prosperous, and guilting people into buying from them is not exactly a winning marketing policy.  But maybe it is time that Lansingites take a hard look at their feelings about what they want in this community and what it really takes for those things to be here.

A letter in this issue of the Lansing Star from the owners of Lansing Market is a case in point.  I haven't heard anyone say they don't like Lansing Market.  Quite the opposite -- people seem to like it.  It is conveniently located, with a friendly staff, and a decent selection for a small grocery market.  I love this store.  But the word is that customers treat it more like a convenience store than a grocery store.

It is true that a smaller market won't have the selection a Tops or a Wegman's has.  A lot of people assume that means there is no selection and that prices are better in those bigger stores.  And there is the 'downtown snobbery' of shopping there, I suppose.  That's where the cool people shop.  So the drill is to do your main shopping at the big stores, and then pick up a few things at Lansing Market when you need a few things.

Why is that the conventional routine?  Why not reverse it?  Why not do your main shopping at your local market, then pick up the things it doesn't or can't carry at the bigger stores?

I like Outshine Pineapple Frozen Fruit Bars because they are only 80 calories, are really tasty, and I have been trying to drop a few pounds.  Lansing Market can't get them through their suppliers, so I get them at Tops.

There's nothing I can do about those fruit bars, but I can get vegetables, meat, juice, tomato sauce... just about anything at Lansing Market.  You can ask the manager to carry something if you don't find it there, and often he is able to.  The prices are competitive, for the most part, or close enough.  When they aren't I figure that less spent on gas along with the convenience of being so close trump the aggravation of braving the Wegman's parking lot -- and the crazy people inside who really should get a licence to drive a shopping cart before they are allowed to speed around the store, snarfing up their gluten-free fodstuffs.  Speaking of which, there is a whole new wall of gluten-free products at Lansing Market.  And I will add that Lansing Market often has snow peas when tops is out of them.  I like snow peas.

If you didn't know, Lansing Market supports local businesses by carrying an impressive list of local products.  A local business owned by two Lansing men built the place.  And you may not know that Lansing Market is owned by Lansing residents or family members of Lansing residents.  You can't get more local than that.

In more than ten years of publishing this local newspaper we have found it a challenge to get local people to advertise in the Lansing Star.  This, in turn, has made it quite challenging for us to produce it, even though we get mostly good feedback and kudos from Lansing readers.  Over the years we have tried to figure out why local folks wouldn't support our very local business just to have a free local newspaper in town, let alone the very real actual benefits of advertising in the Star.  So I understand what our fellow businesses suffer as they struggle to keep their heads above water.

Local businesses are good for Lansing.  They generate tax revenue and provide jobs for residents.  They are nearby.  Even though gas prices are close to half of their recent high, gasoline isn't going to last forever.  A lot of people I know have been shouting that they want to eliminate fossil fuels, in favor of renewable ones.  One way to do that is to drive less and shop close by.

I don't have anything against Tops or Wegmans -- well, maybe Wegmans because I really hate enormous stores and I really really really hate crowded big enormous stores.  But that's just me.  I like our local Tops in the Village of Lansing quite a lot.  And, sure, I am likely to pick up a package of chicken thighs and maybe some avocados or lettuce or orange marmalade if I happen to be at Tops on a frozen juice bar run.  There is certainly enough market to support the big markets as well as the small.

If this town continues more or less as it is we will never have big shopping centers here, and it is possible we won't have a little one either.  A lot of people like this town as it is, as well they should, since they choose to live here.  But even a small rural town can support a few amenities.  Our local pizza parlor actually makes really good pizza.  You don't want to be driving far when you realize you just finished your last sip of vodka -- Lansing has a local liquor store.  There are a few really great restaurants right in the middle of Lansing.  An amazing Karate studio and an amazing dance studio.  And a great local market.

If we don't shop in these places, who will?  Sure, it's nice to have them around, but business isn't a theoretical or philosophical notion.  Businesses actually need customers.  If that's not us for local Lansing businesses, who is it?

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