CHAINS: Just not good for business

I for one am not thrilled with the addition of yet another commercial, non-local and non-independent restaurant being added to the already huge number of the same now occupying our main corridor.

I am speaking of the Cracker Barrel chain restaurant, which will be located near the already busy intersection near I-90, Ramsey and Appleway, just east of the current Winco foods.

This will only bring more congestion to the already overworked “Double Quad” controlled intersection, and very few local jobs to account for the outgoing revenue stream that is the plague of commercial entities taking away from successful communities and offering nothing but low wage, low growth employment in return.

Commercial restaurants purchase nothing for their menus locally. All product from food to cleaning supplies comes via commercial sellers like SysCo, FsA and others. All other supplies come branded with the sellers name via a chain of interests which serve nothing more than the Wall Street income grabbers which in turn erect more of these blights to “serve” their intended targets: You and me.

This is in direct opposition to local, small business which shop, buy, source and hire locally. With local business our money stays in the community and helps to bring positive growth and sustainable free enterprise for all. I’m not singling out any one commercial restaurant or other entity, but rather the model as a whole. This model is little more than a “Vampire” sucking the life-blood of the communities they claim to serve.

RANDALL VOGT

Coeur d’Alene