Reprinted with permission...as far as all of you know:

"We just got the letter in the mail. Craig is moving to Dominick's. What a quite lonely corner that will be. But wait with all of the space available maybe a larger store could move in. Possibly a chain?

Looks like more work for the ###.

Craig you will be missed!"

That is so strange because just tonight, I thought it was awfully nice that Craig's was still around...I hope he will be happy at Dominick's. He's a really nice guy. Running one's own business can wear after a while. My dad stopped running his own plumbing company after 30 or so years and went to work for someone else. He's so much happier now not having to deal with all the overhead, inventory, and bill collecting!

You mean - the pharmacy is moving to Baker Hill, near Dominicks'? Or is his business somehow being absorbed into the existing pharmacy AT Dominick's? I'm too confused! But sad that it will be leaving, because it's one of the few businesses left downtown that have been there since we moved here 12 years ago.

BTW, did anyone read the article in today's Daily Herald about the turnover downtown? I don't mean to be critical, but I wasn't at all impressed with Janie Patch's responses to the reporter. But then again, nobody, it seemed, wanted to go on the record for that article.

Craigs space should become availabe by Sept 1, 2007. The store is just under 2000sq ft. The building has had a pharmacy in it since it was built over 80 years ago. Criag has been there for about 18 years.

It is sad to see Craig's go. Schmid's Pharmacy bit the dust earlier this year (only the gift shop continues in business). We can thank Walmart, Costco etc. It is just too hard for individuals to stay in the pharmacy business vs. discount giants.

I'm not sure why you would blame Costco and Walmart. I don't believe they put a gun to Craigs customers heads and said come to our store or else. If anyone is to blame, it would be the customers who jumped ship to shop elsewhere. Market efficiencies only lead to greater consumer satisfactions. Our town (and the entire U.S. economy is changing) It is about time our Village wakes up to notice what is going on around town. The majority of the Downtown is zoned for retail. Our Village Trustees have yet to see the changing ways of commerce. (Our economy is shifting to a service based economy) i.e. It would be prudent to update the zoning. The last time I looked at the permitted uses as outlined in the code, It included things such as a "hat" shop and typewriter repair shop.

You can blame whomever you want. I would have liked to use the in-town, family-run pharmacies more but as a working parent, I found their hours couldn't compete with the likes of Walgreen's. Plain and simple. When it comes to prescriptions, the price will be the same but access to the pharmacist (times) and all the other items sold in the store make it more appealing and just easier to use.

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
You can blame whomever you want. I would have liked to use the in-town, family-run pharmacies more but as a working parent, I found their hours couldn't compete with the likes of Walgreen's. Plain and simple. When it comes to prescriptions, the price will be the same but access to the pharmacist (times) and all the other items sold in the store make it more appealing and just easier to use.

Couldn't disagree with you more. If we want to support local small businesses, then we can't just pay lip service to those businesses. You must go to the local business. And spend money.

The hours of an in town merchant don't have to be inconvenient. But if we don't really care to support these businesses, they are not going to stay open for people who don't shop there.

The key is your phrase "all the other items sold in the store make it more appealing and just easier to use". We, as consumers, seek the most for the least. Hence, the popularity of Costco, which gets a break on the wholesale pricing due to their unique packaging that you don't find in regular grocery stores. We are going to find soon enough that we have a food court in town with merchants on the outskirts.

If anyone is to blame, it would be the customers who jumped ship to shop elsewhere

quote:

Let's blame insurance compaines while we are at it. I can only get the lowest cost by using the mail order option for monthly perscriptions.

quote:

Originally posted by ronkas:
Couldn't disagree with you more. If we want to support local small businesses, then we can't just pay lip service to those businesses. You must go to the local business. And spend money.

The hours of an in town merchant don't have to be inconvenient. But if we don't really care to support these businesses, they are not going to stay open for people who don't shop there.

The key is your phrase "all the other items sold in the store make it more appealing and just easier to use". We, as consumers, seek the most for the least. Hence, the popularity of Costco, which gets a break on the wholesale pricing due to their unique packaging that you don't find in regular grocery stores. We are going to find soon enough that we have a food court in town with merchants on the outskirts.

I couldn't disagree with you more! I leave for work at 6:45 am and don't get home until 5 - 5:30, sometimes later. Usually, I have to run my kids to things and guess what? Walgreens' is on the way, has more than just my prescription but milk, some dinner items, cleaning supplies, makeup, shampoo, lotion, halloween candy, and just about any other thing I might need at the spur of the moment. Of course, they have photo-finishing too. I don't have much time to make it to Craig's when they are open. Saturdays are spent running to more lessons, buying groceries, catching up on laundry (or starting to), etc. Then, the hours on Sunday are very limited. Transferring prescriptions can be difficult too...OH, and the meds I get filled regularly have to be filled within seven days of it being written so I go straight to the Walgreen's when I get the Rx.

I've gone to Mario Traccoci for several years too because just about the only day of the week I had time to get my hair cut was Sunday and all the salons in town are closed.

Sorry. I'd love to patronize the local businesses more. I can't get there when they are open. I do try to take advantage of the late Thursdays when I can.

Love you. Love your bourbon slushy.

*peace*

quote:

Originally posted by ronkas:
Couldn't disagree with you more. If we want to support local small businesses, then we can't just pay lip service to those businesses. You must go to the local business. And spend money.

The hours of an in town merchant don't have to be inconvenient. But if we don't really care to support these businesses, they are not going to stay open for people who don't shop there.

The key is your phrase "all the other items sold in the store make it more appealing and just easier to use". We, as consumers, seek the most for the least. Hence, the popularity of Costco, which gets a break on the wholesale pricing due to their unique packaging that you don't find in regular grocery stores. We are going to find soon enough that we have a food court in town with merchants on the outskirts.

Well, here's my 2 cents - while I'm sorry to see stores like Craig's (and the pharmacy at Schmidt's) leave, there are a couple of things prohibiting those of us who really do want to support the downtown businesses from doing so. (And I really do try to. It's just getting harder and harder, with each passing year.)

First of all, yes, the hours are a major issue. I'm fortunate in that I work from home and so I can run out during the normal 10-5 business day of most stores in town. But I know so many families who can't do this. The only times they can pick things up are on Sundays or after dinner - and the downtown businesses are mostly closed. I do think that in business, it's the store that needs to accomodate the shoppers, not the other way around.

Then the other issue is parking. If you are really going to support local retailers, which means having to go into several stores, one at a time - because Craig's doesn't have milk, but McChesney's does, but they don't have your prescription, or that box of crayons your toddler needs, but Schmidt does - so you're faced with walking all over the place to get three different items, then you need to have a central parking place, convenient to all stores, where you can drop your packages off instead of lugging them from store to store.

So Mr. Kas, with all due respect, I have to say, again, it's not the consumer who should accomodate the problems with downtown - it's the retailers who need to accomodate the habits of the consumer.

I agree with you.

Craig is a separate issue. Although it's great to be your own boss, I think he is going to welcome the steady paycheck, health benefits, and pharmacist's salary he is sure to get. It might have been painful, but it's an intelligent decision that reflects the times.

I, like you, can get around during the day, and shopping in the downtown business district is not a one-stop shop. What is necessary is some sort of synergy that does not revolve solely around restaurants.

I don't think you will ever get a 2007 suburban downtown area to be what it was when we were younger - unless you scrap the buildings and create a marketplace atmosphere. I don't think anyone really wants to do that. But if we don't get merchants down here to prime the pump for the consumer to come to them, we will have a food court.

The model of the food court in suburban shopping was to provide a respite for......more shopping. It becomes self defeating if your consumer base only comes to town to eat. There is nothing more for them to do.

Drive. Park. Eat. Leave.

I've lived in Glen Ellyn for 35 years. I've never stepped foot in Craig's.

35 Years is a long time! Craig has been there for 18 years. Did you ever step foot into Woods Pharmacy? (It was there for your first 17 years as a resident)

Just remember, This is "Your Home Town" and it will be exactly what you want it to be! If you want to keep complaining about the vacancies then stay home for another 35 years. If a merchant doesn't have something you need, then ask if they will carry it! The merchants are just regular people trying to make ends meet just like the rest of us. It appears it is always easier to complain about someone else's house than to build one of your own

Scribbler, I don't believe anyone has been carrying many packages around town. If they were, then maybe they could cancel the membership at curves or health track or skip the drive thru? But then again the media networks couldn't do those segments on obesity and show clips of people from the neck down. If parking is a problem, then petition the Village to remove all of the parking places and require every merchant to install a drive up window on the front of every store. BTW Do you unbuckle your children when you go to the pool or park? Or do they just watch from their car seats?

Ronkas, How about a food court with web access. That way you could eat (shop online) Drink (shop more online) leave and have UPS of Fed Ex drop it off at your house!. Better yet order out of state and save on the sales tax too!