Thirty-five years ago when I was growing up in a relatively small town north of Toronto, there were no “big box” stores.  The town had several grocery stores that by today’s standards would be considered small.  Within walking distance of my home, we could visit a butcher shop,  another shop that sold only fruit and vegetables, and a grocery store that sold general groceries.  At the butcher shop, you could purchase cuts of meat from livestock that had been produced locally.  Except in winter, the fruit and vegetables were grown locally as well.  As a kid, I used to enjoy going into the butcher shop - the butcher would always have free bones he would give away that I could in turn give to my dog to chew on.


Today, with the growth of “globalization” and the big box stores, efficiency in on time delivery in goods and produce from thousands of miles away has been a key factor in keeping the costs of food and goods down - and along with that, the disappearance of butcher shops, fruit and vegetable stores, and smaller grocery stores where you knew the manager personally.

But there are two factors that you might want to keep an eye on and see some opportunity for yourself:

1. For years, there has been a movement that has had a lot of effect on how people think in regard to the environment and how they make purchases, especially of food.  “Grown Locally” signs hang everywhere in the supermarket that I shop at in the Produce section.  Whether or not food grown or produced locally is fresher or better than that grown not locally is open for debate, but the idea is that if you are more likely to buy that which is locally produced, you are going to have an impact on the environment by purchasing goods that have been less harsh on the environment through less emissions in the transport of those goods.

2. Anyone who drives a vehicle has seen the huge increases in fuel costs. These costs are having an impact on the transportation of food and goods.  I was reading recently about a firm that has been building a factory in China but has decided to stop the construction and instead, start over and build a factory in the US.  Labor costs are going to be higher, but when the costs of transporting the goods from China to North America was factored in at today’s fuel prices, it is apparently cheaper for the manufacturer to pay the increased labor costs than to worry about increasing fuel prices into the future.

I’m not suggesting we’re going to see the end of the “big box” stores any time soon - but as fuel prices increase and more people decide that “buying locally” is important to them,  for some foods, goods and services, there very well may be some opportunity for those who take advantage of these trends.

And personally, I’d love to see a butcher shop on my main street again!

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