The Wolfville "Buy Local" Gimmick
Just recently I came across some fliers under the headline BUY LOCAL CHALLENGE 2009 where residents and visitors were asked to commit to “join onto the spirit of living a more local life over the next 12 months”. I had asked myself what joining the spirit of living a more local life could mean and if this could really be a goal I would like to pursue. I did not think so.My impression of a gimmick started when I then read that all people joining had to define “local” by themselves while seeking out products to match their definitions wherever they were shopping.
There was obviously a very blurred vision with the organizers on the intended goal of the BUY LOCAL CHALLENGE as well. When I then learned from the fliers that this gimmick was “Inspired and Sponsored by the Wolfville Farmers’ Market” I regarded it as an almost very foolish marketing idea of the vendors/distributors at the Market, not matching the given realities at all. It seems that living a more local life means shopping for local products. For the remainder of my article I shall stick to food products and articles to be bought at the local food store, for products like craft, art, music, jewelry and clothing rarely meet my taste.
And of course, while the BUY LOCAL CHALLENGE became launched to the public, Mayor Stead and even two Ministers had their say supporting this almost foolish idea.
I would like to congratulate the organizers who put this idea on paper and are trying to sell it during the Market hours to obviously blind-sighted people for $5 a piece while providing a canvas shopping bag, a challenge card, a button and a resource kit. At least these organizers seem to understand the basic meaning of capitalism and how to generate money for almost nothing in return.
Speaking to people all around and asking them for their understanding of the meaning “local” I got quite a variety of answers. Those actually reached from “Wolfville in its boundaries” to entire “North America” including answers like “Annapolis Valley”, “Province of Nova Scotia”, “Atlantic Provinces” and “Canada”. All these different perceptions would fit into the “local gimmick” idea.
Personally, I regard local the Town of Wolfville and with my chosen definition I should not buy produce at the Market, for most of the vendors come from outside Wolfville’s boundaries. Some of the offered products come from far away as well (e.g. coffee, tea etc.). But this almost foolish labeling BUY LOCAL and my definition would not stop me from buying my bread every Saturday morning from a German bakery stand, originated in Annapolis Royal.
Maybe, the Market offers fresher produce than available at the local food store. Maybe, it offers healthier produce stemming from organic farming (available at the local food store as well). Here you have to know that every produce grower can call the harvest organic if he will not have polluted the soil with chemicals during the last four years. But we all know that the provided chemicals to the soil will not have disappeared entirely during a four-year period of abstaining from spraying chemicals. Anyhow, it is for sure beneficial to have the Market every Saturday as a stage and focal point for people to meet and talk with each other.
Just for the record, there are additional Farmers’ Markets at different weekdays located close to Wolfville as well.
What is the food-buying reality in Wolfville?
After Foodland became closed there was no competition any longer to the only SaveEasy store located in Wolfville. Everybody knows that this Wolfville franchise outlet of Loblaws sells its merchandise with a normally much higher pricing structure than the other subsidiary of Loblaws, the Atlantic Superstore in New Minas.
I had to apologize last year to the owner of the Wolfville franchise outlet regarding the sometimes drastic price differences for the very same brand product. The prices are not decided by the owner but are superimposed by the franchise provider.
The reality may read like this:
To buy your basic food products for a week, drive to the Atlantic Superstore in New Minas and you may save at least the fuel expenses for the use of your car plus the expenses for a large coffee plus a muffin at Tim Horton’s plus some change in your wallet!
This means to elderly residents of Wolfville on a fixed retirement income and without a car and to students without a vehicle either that they get punished and “screwed” (sorry my language) while shopping locally in Wolfville. Otherwise they would have to add quite some time and $7 bus fare to New Minas and back to their shopping expenses.
To make this dilemma known, I had spoken to a Town’s Councillor last year. I had suggested to him that the Town should provide me with a van for a couple of hours about 3 times a week. Through ads in The Grapevine I then would ask needy residents without a car to provide me with their shopping lists which I would fill in at the Atlantic Superstore and/or Sobeys and deliver the merchandise back to their homes. I had planned to do this on my own time and free of charge. The needy resident would have to pay the lower New Minas price only and maybe a little fuel surcharge.
My idea behind it was that doing this for a certain time would force the franchise provider to lower the prices at the SaveEasy outlet in Wolfville to meet Atlantic Superstore levels.
The Chronicle Herald reported on its front page on February 10, 2009 that “inside this province, grocery shoppers in Wolfville and Halifax spent $30 more on the same list of items than a person in Sydney”. Maybe, in Sydney there is an Atlantic Superstore and no SaveEasy.
And paying more for groceries might mean as well that there is not enough money for buying healthier food or for living a healthier lifestyle.
The Councillor did not seem to feel very enthusiastic about my idea. If Mayor Stead would like to polish his public appearance - as he normally tries to - maybe, he can come up with ideas for a solution. That’s what he was elected for even by a minority of voters only.
In addition I had spoken to the assistant manager at the Atlantic Superstore in New Minas. He was fully aware that the pricing structures in all SaveEasy outlets in the province are much higher for the very same products than in Superstore outlets. I had then suggested changing the name in Wolfville from SaveEasy to Atlantic Superstore to maybe solve the problem of drastic price differences. I am still waiting for a promised response.
If I expand my definition of buying local from Wolfville just to New Minas the situation becomes even worse.
I read somewhere in the papers that almost 90% of the merchandise at Walmart gets imported from China.
And even a lot of products at our SaveEasy and Atlantic Superstore stem from China and other Far East countries. Try to find there some packaged and frozen salmon pieces that are not imported from China. You may not succeed.
And the cheap imports from the China do kill jobs - especially in the manufacturing industry - in the West and over here and make a communist country superrich while our economy is in shambles.
Internationally, the recent Buy American campaign shows very lately tried protectionism in the U.S.. With more than 80% of our exports oriented to the U.S., Canada may have to start a very serious thinking process fast on how to secure its economic future.
Coming back to the BUY LOCAL CHALLENGE 2009, inspired and sponsored by the Wolfville Farmers’ Market, the question here is: What do we have to protect with the BUY LOCAL CHALLENGE in Wolfville? Is it just a regular income of some 60 small business people?
Fact is, that you cannot buy all your basic groceries at the Market and will have to shop somewhere else as well.
And why would you want to limit yourself and commit yourself to local produce while availability, price and quality of comparable produce from outside of your “local definition area” might trigger your taste butts as well? Wouldn’t some cognitive dissonances create some unnecessary guilt feelings? And don’t you sometimes prefer oranges over apples?
I call this idea unclear in its intention, nebulously defined and stupid and doubt very much that this CHALLENGE will reduce Wolfville’s carbon footprint even a little bit.
Think for yourself!
Lutz E. Becker / February 12, 2009
Comments:
dN said...
this is simply poorly written. too many points that don't support your 'gimmick theory'. perhaps a little more explanation of some things instead of expecting us to know all the details. less bitching without supporting information. i can not agree, or disagree, with any of this post as you've not properly stated an argument. it's simply an emotional rant, which is fine, but ineffective. this will not move anyone to act, but will simply confuse the emotions.
May 26, 2009 6:20 AM
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