Mergers continue to take place all over the business world, part of what appears to be a globalization of business.
Farmer Jack, a name known to most Detroiters, will be no more as of the end of next month. A&P (who used to have a Michigan presence as well) wants to cut off Farmer Jack because there were no buyers for the chain.
Doesn't seem that long ago since there were neighborhood grocers in droves, who knew your name; friendly neighborhood butchers who knew your meat order every time you came in.
The small stores are but a memory, selling out to medium stores, who sell out to the large stores like A&P, who then are gobbled up by Wal-Mart.
This world is officially going to be completely Wal-Mart-ized. This is not the first mention of Wal-Mart's hostile takeover of our way of life (if I find the other entry, I'll link it here), but more and more the difference between the have's and have-nots is growing. There's no middle ground. We were taught as youngsters not to think of matters strictly black or white; remember when they told you "there's always a gray area"?
No more when it comes to business.
The local newspapers which have been reporting on this every step of the way have testimonials in their articles by devoted Farmer Jack shoppers who lament the lack of available, affordable alternatives. They express hesitation at shopping at Wal-Mart, Meijer or Costco.
Especially with the older folk, they consider personal customer service a perk for shopping where they do; which to them, means super personal: they know who you are and they know what you're shopping for; you can talk to the clerk like you're old friends.
Now we're in the merger cycle of business, and remember in Michigan it's a killer to the economic psyche.
But why do I say it's a cycle? Just look at the title above. "Ma Bell" and "Baby Bell" were terms given to the companies resulting after the mid-1980s split of AT&T, who at the time was monopolizing the communications market. Historically, Standard Oil was split up in the early part of last century for the exact same reason. And grumblings of "monopoly" erupt every time we figure Bill Gates and his Windows Vista program have to adorn every computer. Even if it's an Apple Mac, so what? He'll try to get his fingerprint on it. What if we don't want his ideas? We have no choice.
And the choices are becoming slim and none to shoppers who desire variety and competitive pricing. They will have no choice but to bow to Wal-Mart if they want to eat properly.
If John D. Rockefeller were alive to see these mergers, he'd laugh and say "see? Look what happened to Standard Oil; now people like me are getting those other people back."
Let's think positive, and wait until we get the likes of him back... again.
