Local shoppers develop better tastes
Your Aug. 5 articles on the slow food trend were informative but missed the point about the Triad's direction of growth. Only now have big numbers of Triad consumers decided to buy local.
Why? One reason some shoppers have shifted grocery dollars from chains to local farmers is, as your authors say, fear of contaminants. But since they could just as easily shop at Earth Fare or the organic section in Harris Teeter, I believe food shopping habits have changed because, thank God, food tastes have improved.
Waves of out-of-staters and foreigners (and, yes, even illegals) have moved here and demanded a wider range of products and better quality. Also, as education standards have risen, so has the average consumer's knowledge. The net result is that more shoppers are ready to diversify their spending by buying local goods and services, especially when they are demonstrably better.
The good news is that the slow food movement provides a business model for local entrepreneurs facing tough competition from big corporations. And if the Triad is to have balanced economic growth, it will need more than Wendover's big box stores, Friendly Shopping Center's latest installment of chic, urban retailers, HondaJet or Dell.
Andrew Young
Greensboro
Comments (1)
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It's a good thing all of these outsiders have the good sense to buy food from Guilford County. Unfortunately, they have to give up stuff like rice and citrus fruit in order to do so. But that's the cost of diversifying.
Posted on August 8, 2007 11:45 AM