"Harness Supplier Caves In to Box Stores" says a story by Paula Dobbyn, Anchorage Daily News, just posted on the Juneau Empire website www.JuneauEmpire.com. (Full story available on the link -- you might have to register for a free account to read it, but it's an interesting story well worth the trouble.)
"I've lost my home. I've sold off my possessions. As I needed money, I kept selling off things. I've run out of things to sell. Enough is enough," says Patricia Rae, 62, widow of George Rae who started Rae's Harness Shop from his garage in 1975. From a thriving small business employing 14 people and grossing $2.2 million in 1999, Rae's business has plummetted to less than $400,000 last year, hardly breaking even. The well-known Anchorage store will close September 15, unable to compete with big-box discount retailers PetCo and Animal Food Warehouse that have moved into Anchorage.
Mushers everywhere will be sad to hear this news. Of all the retail suppliers of harness, dogsleds, snow hooks and other mushing gear, Rae's would probably be the best-known around the world. It seems like the reins of economic power continue to be gathered into the hands of mega-corporations at the expense of small business Mom-and-Pop operations. Maybe some things are cheaper for the consumer -- for the time being, anyway -- but it gives you the impression that something very basic is broken in our economic system and that there is very little hope of fixing it.
Posted by jjeffrey at August 30, 2005 11:36 AM