DEAR EDITOR:
Eons ago, when I was very young, Red and White Grocery was the
only game in Gilroy. Then one day, a dark cloud settled over the
city of 3,200 souls.
DEAR EDITOR:
Eons ago, when I was very young, Red and White Grocery was the only game in Gilroy. Then one day, a dark cloud settled over the city of 3,200 souls. The name of that dark cloud was “Purity.” Yes, Purity Stores had decided to set up business in our town and the talk of the town was that Ormond Rector, owner of Red and White, was going to go broke! Broke, I tell you!
Well, Ormond didn’t go broke at all. The town, it seems, was big enough to support two grocery stores by then, and he survived quite nicely. That is until, of course, with the passage of time, Ormond moved to San Mateo County and opened an automobile dealership. At any rate, he didn’t go broke he went on to a better prospect. Then, Safeway came along and we all thought Purity would surely go broke. Guess what? Purity survived for many years until time and progress took their toll and Purity Stores, as we knew them, went out of business completely.
A great succession of grocery stores came to town, all of which we welcomed as they represented competition and the consumer benefited (‘Sorry, Charlie). Some stayed and some went away.
When Orchard Supply came to town, Chappell Hardware survived quite well, until Maitland died and Jerome decided to retire and closed the business. Now, of course, Home Depot has all but put OSH out of the game, (except that when I went to shop there just this past week, I could hardly find a parking place) and Lowes has had the same affect on Home Depot. Yeah, right.
My wife and I travel quite a bit and when we need some small item we take advantage of Wal-Mart, if there is one within hailing distance. I don’t know how the Gilroy Wal-Mart in its current location survives because it is so hard for tourists to access. It should really move to a better and bigger location. It is truly a traveler’s magnet and will boost the tourism dollar for Gilroy, in my humble estimation.
Gilroy is in a prime location to take advantage of the dollars spent by the transient consumer. The Dispatch noted recently that Highway 152 is the shortest and best link between Santa Clara Valley and San Joaquin Valley. I’ll go you one better. Highway 152 is the shortest and best link between the largest market place in Northern California, Silicon Valley, and the vast market in Southern California. It is, or would be, if properly developed, a vital vertebra in the commercial backbone of California.
I applaud the City Council on their farsighted decision and appeal to the harbingers of doom to swallow this one and move on.
Bob Winter, Gilroy
Submitted Tuesday, March 16 to ed****@ga****.com
