we don't have to shop there, actually.
entirely sufferable changes we can absolutely endure.
I’m sure it was watching a Michael Moore documentary about Walmart in college that first radicalized me against shopping at Big Box stores. That and the closure of a favorite shop in my hometown—a tiny one-time-honest-to-goodness general store, that had morphed into a tchotchke emporium hawking punny embroidered pillows and faux-vintage signage but that retained its in-store post office and penny candy until its very last day. I was convinced Walmart was to blame and I still miss sliding a single penny across the counter in exchange for a root beer barrel. When a Starbucks opened up in town and threatened, theoretically, to shutter the smaller indie coffee shops, I refused to meet my friends there, demanding they join me instead at the locally owned shop down the street. They mostly complied. For anyone wondering, yes, I have always been this fun.