Pen-demic

  When I was growing up, my father would tell me to always patronize the small businesses in the area.  He repeatedly told me that if you don't, then the day you need them, they won't be there for you. I think of his words now, as I drive through the business sections of town and look at all the signs reading "Temporarily Closed", "Permanently Closed", and just "Closed".  I wonder how many of the small businesses that I have patronized over the years will be gone when this is over.  How many will still be there, but will be "different".  I look at the empty storefronts and wonder if anyone will move in once this is over, or if they will remain empty for years to come.  It's  not just the small businesses that are dying though.  The paper lists major department stores that have been around for over 50 years as closing, many because of people shopping online, a trend that was causing issues for the department stores before the pandemic ...

  I don’t shop like others. I grew up in a military family where money was tight and my mother would shop on a weekly basis, with meals often determined by how much longer it was until the once a month pay check would arrive.  After my father retired though, my mother started doing her main shopping once a month.  That’s when my parents would go to the closest military commissary, first the Granite City Depot commissary, then after Interstate Highway 64 was built, to the Scott Air Force Base Commissary.  I didn’t realize back then, what a savings shopping at the commissary was for my parents, with a house full of kids. Later, after I joined the Air Force myself, and became a Services Officer, my unit had “oversight” over the Base Exchanges and Commissaries on the bases we were stationed at, and I learned very quickly that they sold items for cost plus a minimal surcharge which covered operating costs. Any profits made by local BX and Commissary facilities were turned...