Average Chathamite could care less about artists and hippies

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 10:09:51 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jeff Lane
Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #3139

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Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 04:39:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chuck
Subject: Re: McDonald’s

If you don’t like it, don’t go there.

Very succinct and to the point.  Good show Chuck.

I agree with you too.  The problem I see is that the people who complain so virulently about McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, Target, and previously Lowe’s Home Improvement and other such things in this area, are the same ones who seem to think that the county and Pittsboro can grow by leaps and bounds monetarily by turning the county in to an Artist / Hippie paradise.

Not that I have anything against Artists or Hippies.  Heck, I married one.  But the problem with that thinking is that the average person, the one driving up and down 64 and 15-501, and believe it or not, the average
Chathamite really could care less about art and hippies.

A good deal of Chathamites could care less about the Chatham Artists Guild.  They could care less about pottery, painting and sculpture.  They could care less about small, local places like S&T’s Soda Shoppe, Chatham Marketplace and the GSC.

People go first to what they know.  They naturally orient to what is familiar before they move on to the other things in that are new and different.  Sure, not everyone is like that.  I, myself, always go for local flavor when I travel and always try to eat meals at places that I could not find at home.  HOWEVER, there is also a good bit of time that I, and most other people, end up at places like McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, and so forth simply because they know the names, know what they are getting and are in a hurry to get somewhere else.

The best kind of tax dollars we want, and the same kind of tax dollars that everyone seems so keen on attracting are tourist dollars.  Tourists come and go, they don’t live here, and do not put a strain on the local infrastructure beyond the brief time they spend driving the roads in Chatham county.  Tourists to Chatham come from as close as Sanford and Chapel Hill, and as far away as the other side of the world.

To Shakori, they come from all over the country, and maybe even North America.  To other festivals, they come from all over the state.  Tourists from west of us pass through every day on their way to the Carolina shore, Raleigh, Myrtle Beach and beyond.  Tourists from the east of us come through on their way to the Bar-B-Que mecca to the west, to the mountains of NC and TN, and so forth.  Now, where do you think they are most likely to stop and eat.  Not the adventurous ones like me, but the average Joe Traveler? McDonald’s.  Taco Bell.  Burger King.

Where do you think they are going to stop for that last minute stuff they forgot to pack on the way to the beach?  Wal-Mart or Target.  Why is this?  Because those things are the same no matter where you go.  If I am in a hurry, I can zip into a Wal-Mart or Target quickly and get back out with exactly what I went in for.  If I am hungry and on the run, I can zip in to a McDs or Taco Bell and get out in under 10 minutes with something tasty, if not healthy, to eat on the run as I continue driving.

THAT is what the much desired tourist does.  Yes, they DO go to places like the GSC and S&Ts and the Brewery.  Yes, they DO visit antique shoppes, jewelry shops and second hand stores.  Yes, they DO come to buy pottery, paintings, sculpture and fresh fruit.  BUT those are all niche markets.  I’ve said this in the past, and I’ll say it again.  Chatham county is very little more than farmland and several niche markets trying to survive.  If you want the tourists, if you want the niche markets to grow, if you want to attract more temporary visitors to the area to shop in our stores, to buy our local produce, to support our local artists, then you need to provide things that are familiar to them.

If I were traveling down 64 and passed by Pittsboro and had never been here before, I would have no idea what General Store Cafe is.  I would have no idea what the S&T soda shoppe was like.  I wouldn’t even have a clue that there are some first rate artists living here selling their art.  I WOULD, however, see the big Golden Arches on the side of the Highway, and I WOULD stop there and spend some of my vacation money, supporting the LOCAL employees of that McDonald’s, Adding tax revenue to the local coffers that eventually improve roads, police, beautification projects, parks, trails, and so on.  Then I may well drive on through Pittsboro and see what else is there… but first, I would stop at what’s familiar and comfortable.

I’m all for some more local shops.  Heck, I just had Our Neighborhood School pizza for the first time recently, and it was BY FAR, the best pizza I have ever had outside of New York.  I love the Quiche, salads and other offerings at GSC.  The food at the Brewery is wonderful, as is the Beer.  My favorite place to get a malt is at S&Ts, and my wife is constantly dragging me into and out of various shops in PBO while she buys shoes, clothes, jewelry and other things.

I am also sure that most of us are all for local stores and shoppes.  But we live here.  We are in the middle of the niche.  We can’t see what the rest of the state and country sees because we live here and have our own views.  The problem is, unless we start seeing what the rest of North Carolina and the other 49 states sees, the ONLY people shopping in our treasured local establishments will be us.

Well, just my two cents worth… but I’m not an original born and bred chathamite either… so maybe my opinion is worth slightly less.

But either way, I say bring them on.  I too would love to be able to eat out some times without driving to Apex, Sanford or Chapel Hill.

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