Good Morning!

I trust we all boycotted WalMart yesterday?

As for me, I'll be heading in to our mid-sized local retail chain about 9:30 today. By now you know the drill...shop local today, and support those Main Street businesses!

We did not shop yesterday, nor are we today, or tomorrow. (Although I may go online and order a couple of things tonight.) I have our gifting carefully sussed out, and will be spreading over a little time, including a layaway item I've been paying for since the end of September.

But nay, let's talk about Walmart just a little. I don't shop there myself; never have. The last time I was in one was about 3 years back, after somebody had given Javi a too-large jacket from there and we needed to exchange it.

Have you been in during peak or return season? The store is a hellhole. Merchandise everywhere, salespeople hard to find, and slim pickings all around. "Walmart" has become a catchphrase for us at least, when our store has been overrun by Cossacks ("Shopped Hard, in the trade") our managers have been known to needle us trying to recover by saying "It looks like Walmart in here".

I do find it highly ironic that Walmart's in-house brand is called "Faded Glory"....I couldn't possibly think of anything more appropriate. In any case....I felt like I needed a shower after we got out of there.

But as long as we're on the subject, let's talk about China for a moment. LL Bean sells many things, and one of our most popular gifts for the holiday season is the "Wicked Good" Slipper. I have a pair of these...hell, I bet we all do.

In any case, these used to be hand-made in Maine alongside our LL Bean Boot. 3 years ago now, the entire production run was moved to China. I can't say that the quality has suffered overtly, although I'm sure it has. Nay, it's the price. Go back and look again. When they went offshore, we were selling these for $49. A year later they had gone up by ten bucks to $59. This year, we've added a whopping twenty bucks, and they now retail for $79. For a freakin' pair of slippers.

I don't know about you, but all the GOP and pro-big-business rhetoric over the last few years has led me to believe that shipping things to China made things more efficient and less expensive....in my limited experience, it just isn't so.