Service counts

To the editor:

“Support your local businesses.”

“Buy locally.”

“Vote with your dollars.”

Ah, wise advice, usually, but I’m starting to wonder if I’ll continue to do so after being ignored by sales clerks in two downtown shoe stores this afternoon! I headed down south to a box store, where, within less than a minute of entering, a young man asked if he could be of help, listened to my requirements and led me to the area of the store most likely to contain what I wanted. And, of course, it did. The second pair fit like a champ and the big store gets the profit that could’ve gone to some local businessman who’s probably grumbling how the “big guys” are beating him down.

John Hamm,

Baldwin