Sunday, March 13, 2011

Slow Retail



The title of this week's blogpost relates to the Slow Money and Slow Food movements afoot in this county.  The principles of slow money start by saying:

1.We must bring money back down to earth.
2.. There is such a thing as money that is too fast, companies that are too big, finance that is too complex. Therefore, we must slow our money down -- not all of it, of course, but enough to matter" .

I'm hereby proposing a Slow Retail movement as well.  The video I've posted above, of a new(ish) song by Jesse J featuring B.O.B. very aptly illustrates the way I feel about this.  Portions of the lyrics go like this:

"Seems like everybody's got a price, I wonder how they sleep at night.
When the sale comes first, and the truth comes second, just stop for a minute and smile.
Why is everybody so serious, acting so damn mysterious?
Got your shades on your eyes and your heels so high that you can't even have a good time.

We're paying with love tonight, it's not about the money, money, money
We don't need your money, money, money
We just wanna make the world dance,
Forget about the Price Tag
Ain't about the Cha-Ching Cha-Ching.
Ain't about the Ba-Bling Ba-Bling
Wanna make the world dance,
Forget about the Price Tag.

Why is everybody so obsessed, money can't buy us happiness.
Can we all slow down and enjoy right now, guarantee we'll be feeling alright.

Its like this man - you can't put a price on the life.
We do this for the love, so we fight and sacrifice every night.
So we ain't gon' stumble and fall never,
waiting to see this in the sign of defeat, uh uh,
So we gon' keep everyone moving their feet,
So bring back the beat and then everyone sing!"

I love this!  The song, of course, relates to the singer's experience in the music world, but it can relate to retail as well.  Especially here, especially now.

Scott and I took over this section of Webster's because we felt it was the right thing to do.  Who knew that the bottom of the economy was going to fall out right as we purchased?  No matter - it was still the right thing to do.  For the love of our community.  For the possibilities of how we could make a difference here. And it's starting to come together!  In spite of all the sacrifices we've made, it's a great feeling.  These past three years have seen a slowly growing tide of change sweeping through our area.....keep it coming, Altadena!

You can keep up with our daily happenings on our Facebook page - we invite you to join us there!  Until next week, my friends.....

Lori & Scott

4 comments:

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

slow money and slow food

fine by me

Unknown said...

Hi, Diane, thanks for stopping by!

More voices aligned in agreement means that things may start changing. Revolution, anyone?

Next week, I'm going to explain what I mean about slow retail....this is just a precursor. And I really like that song....

Cafe Pasadena said...

Well, if slow retail means we are buying less "stuff", then that's good & bad news.

We're told Americans need to save more, consume less. Saving comes at a price itself. Higher unemployment in the short-term.

Unknown said...

I'm using "slow retail" in the same context as "slow money", Mike. Not that I would like less sales, but I would like to promote more informed buying to the public. I talk a lot about how buying locally from independent retailers can strengthen your community, but I don't think a lot of people actually understand it. The lowest price usually wins, but I'd like to try to change that mentality.

I want to outline my plan so I can demonstrate just what a successful local business can do for the community. We will be the test kitchen, so to speak, of what good can be done for the community by a locally owned retail store. I'd like to show Altadena and the surrounding areas what the impact would be, particularly if all other local businesses followed my lead....more local employment being one of the benefits.

Thanks for the comment!