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Times Advocate, 1989-11-01, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, November 1, 1989 • Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 tit Serving South Huron, North Middiesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519.235.1331 ROSS HAUGH Editor HARRY OEVRIES Cumposition Manager pm BECKETT Publisher & Advertising Manager DON SMITH Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $27.00 Per year; U.S.A. $68.00 BIA: A matter of time? rand Bend won't be -getting a Business Improvement Asso- ciation this year, despite the efforts of those who have campaigned long and hard .to organize one in the vil- lage. In some ways, that's too bad, because it looks like Grand Bend businesses might really need the clout of such an organi- zation in the years to come. An overwhelming majority turned. down the BIA proposal at last week's meeting, showing there are some very definite concerns about how well Grand Bend merchants might be able to work together with each others' money. We have heard many antagonistic comments coming from Grand Bend businesspeople, directed at each other. Some see their attempts to keep the re- sort open for business in the off-season undermined by those who head for Flor- ida right after Labour Day. Others who herald Grand Bend's new image as a family resort berate . their neighbours' stores aimed at a youth -oriented market. The general tone of last Thursday's meeting seemed centred on the problems and expenses involved in running a BIA - valid concerns to be sure, but perhaps not enough discussion was given to the problems of running Grand Bend with- out one. The parking issue, for example, is a prime case of where a BIA might solve some of the village problems. Council has been presented with so many schemes over the years for relieving parking congestion in the summer that nothing has ever been achieved. A BIA, however, with its financial backing and the unified support of all businesses, could conceivably provide council with a sensible solution. A BIA might be a more expensive al- ternative than doing nothing, but for how long can Grand Bend merchants rely on the status quo? Municipalities are traditionally respon- sible for the functional maintenance of roadways, but in most cases it takes a BIA to rejuvenate and beautify a core business area. Many say such a project is overdue for Grand Bend's Main Street. Perhaps the time for a BIA in Grand Bend has not yet arrived, but if the op- portunity resurfaces in the next few years it might te worth a serious second look. Rushing the season Already, we have baseball, football and hockey all going at the same time. So I suppose we won't really mind if some day soon we'll have Valentine hearts, Easter bunnies, Hallo- ween pumpkins, and Christmas trees in the stores all year round. The Christmas season is creeping up a few days earlier every year. You hardly notice it, like the warming up of the plan- et, a little at a time. No winter boots yet... I went to buy a pair of winter boots the other day. "Sorry", said the woman standing around at the cash (I refuse to call these people clerks, since they don't know anything), "we don't have winter boots yet." "When will you get them?" The usual shrug. No winter boots yet, but the synthetic spruce trees were sprouting all over this department store. There were cardboard Santas everywhere. If it hadn't been for the "Halloween promotions" in the centre aisle, the commerical landscape would have been wall-to-wall tinsel. merchandisers Well, I'm declaring war on the eager -heaver merchandisers. I'm going to spend my Christmas shopping money in the stores that show some restraint. The ones that won't play Silent Night till December and won't hire Santa and his confounded elves till after Remembrance Day. I don't want to be reminded of Christmas two months in ad- vance. Don't worry, I won't for- get it. I never have. 1 know it'll come as surely as my Visa bill. And yes, I am planning to buy a few presents. But give me a break! I want to enjoy fall, the last of the autumn leaves are still on the trees. I know you merchants are chomping at the bit. You've got your cash registers all oiled and your price tags adjusted upward for the season. The earlier the rush starts, the sooner your bank overdrafts will be reduced. But I refuse to play your game. I like to do my Christmas shopping when there are soft white flakes floating through the air. When I hear the crunch of snow under my boots (which you don't have in stock yet). When the Salvation Army bub- bles and bells appear. _When it's__ really beginning to look like Christmas. That's what puts me in the mood. Department store hype in the first week of November tums me right off. I feel like boycot- ting stores that insult my intelli- gence by putting on this ridicu- lous act. Get with it, Eaton's, The Bay, Sears, Zellers, Met and what have you! We're not a bunch of dummies. We have cal- endars. Why should we, the custom- ers, accommodate you, the ven- dors? Why not the other way round? O.K., Christmas is a mad By Adrian Harte rush. And a huge percentage of your annual sales is Christmas - related. But instead of starting your insensitive, cheap, taste- less, tacky pre -Christmas pro- motions earlier and earlier each year, why don't you provide some service instead? Service instead of hype Example: hire clerks who have a basic knowledge of your mer- chandise, who are interested in your customers and can help them to find things. Example: hire enough staff so that cusom- ters are not inconvenienced by having to queue up like in a De- pression bread line. Example: buy your merchandise intelli- gently so that you have the right stock at the right time. Department stores could learn a lot from small, independent re- tailers. Give me the friendly neighbourhood merchants any- time! They still value their cus- tomers. They still take pride in their knowledge, their stores, their wares. And they have enough common sense to hold back with the jingle bells and ...',.•attv: u iodic iiultis ti gitt: - Like everybody else, I buy toys and gadgets and trinkets ; and baubles. But I refuse to be- come hysterical if I haven't found the "perfect gift" for evz- rybody by mid November. There is enough stuff around to make everybody happy a hun- dred times over. So what's the hurry? Christmas? You must be kid- ding. It's fall. The geese are fly- ing south. Some of our pansies are still in bloom. The grass is still green. 1 couldn't care less how many shopping days are left. Good grief Good grief, Charlie Brown. That's a saying which has been heard by folks around the world for many years, 40 to be exact. Yes, Charlie Brown recently celebrated his 40th birthday along with the rest of the Peanuts comic strip gang. It was back in 1949 that Charles Schulz started the fa- mous comic strip which is now seen in more than 2,000 newspa- pers in 68 countries. Charlie Brown, the round- headed kid who seems to court _ trouble and bad luck„ was named after a friend at art school and is Schulz's alter ego. Snoopy was inspired by a dog he had as a child. Schulz's first professional job was doing lettering for drawings in Timeless T,opix, a Roman Catholic comic book. He later taught at the Art Instruction School and sold cartoons to' Sat- urday Evening Post. His cartoon feature, Li'l Folks, which was the start of Peanuts was developed for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1947. The strip was sold to a syndicate in 1950 and the name changed to Pea- nuts. The artist, whose income for 1987-88 was estimated by Forbes magazine at $62 million .111111, From the editor's disk by oss Haugh lOOMJ U• S'' is almost a natural re- • source in the wine country city of Santa Rosa, about 140 kilo- metres, north of San Francisco. At the age of 67, he spends much of his time at his Redwood Empire ice arena, where he fre- quently plays hockey or sips cof- fee at the rink's snack bar. The actual drawing of Peanuts takes place in his single office at One Snoopy Place, a single - storey, stone and redwood build- ing. It was episodes about Snoopy and the Red Baron that • ,,,,,,,. really put the strip into orbit. Snoopy, until then just another pet pooch, beam a First World War flying ace duelling with the Red Baron in October of 1965. Don't expect to see anything about 40th anniversary celebra- tions mentioned in the award winning comic strip. Schulz a very modest and shy person says, " When I retire that's the end of the strip. It's in my con- tract." In a biography of Schulz, Rhe- ta Grimsley Johnson says, " The. artist suffers from depressiodand many rejections in his life were translated to the comic strip. Re- jection is his specialty. Losing is. his hobby. He has spent a life- time perfecting failure and also has bouts of agoraphobia, the fear of being alone in public plac- es." A belated happy birthday, Charlie Brown. Thought of the Week: Could we call nostalgia the thing that turns the past tense into past per- fect? Born to shop A magazine recently pub- lished some of the danger signs of shopaholicism. The same symptoms apply whether the disease is acute or chronic. You go shopping alone. The first thing you check out anywhere you go is the stores. You have five or more outfits you have never wom. The clerks all know you by your first name. I have been accused of being a shopaholic. Though Canada's constituition does not have a Fifth Amendment, I still refuse to answer on grounds of possi- ble self-incrimination. Some people are born with the gift of playing the piano, or a photographic memory, or facili- ty in carpentry or auto mechan- ics. I am a consummate consu- mer. I have the ability to bolster the economy of whatever retail environment I visit or inhabit. - Atter years of practice, I con- sider myself an expert in the shopping profession. This can tett all a shopper's skills. You have to know the right moment to buy. Do you snatch the bar- gain at 25 percent off, or do you wait for a 50 percent reduction and run the risk that what you Rey ')!d's Rap by Yvonne Reynolds want will be gone by then? Another important considera- tion is what to do with your sav- ings. Do you sock the money away until the next sale, or do you use what you saved on that elegant pair of shoes to buy a matching purse? Women seem to be much bet- ter at sbnpp r . t>:<M,t.,mer:. PLi haps it's a case of practice makes perfect. Let me give you an ex- ample. Last week I came upon a two - 1 pound package of mixed nuts in one of my kitchen cupboards. I knew I had not bought them. That, left only one other possible purchaser. My husband. "I see you are feeling extrava- gant these days," 1 said as 1 waved the package under said spouse's nose. "Oh, no. They were a bar- gain," he replied. "A bargain? $16.99 is a bar- gain?" I challenged. The colour drained from Don's face. He grasped the counter for support. "$16.99?" he gasped. "I thought they were $1.69!" Under more grilling, he admit- ted he had made a number of purchases, paid for everything with his credit card, and had not checked the amount on the bill. He wanted me to retum the nuts. I refused. My specialty is htivinn. and I .nlav for keeps. Don is under strict orders to never again go shopping without his glasses. Nor with his credit card. HAVE AN OPINION? The Times Advocate welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number and address should we need to clarify any information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: Exeter Times Advocate Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6