Re: Seek us out for innovative revenue strategies, PNR letters Page, June 7, 2013
Kudos to Erin Middlebrooks et al. re the letter entitled “Seek us out for innovative revenue strategies” in which the writers specifically asked the question: “When is a local newspaper no longer truly a local paper?”
After reading the letter, my only regret was that Erin and the other signatories did not call me personally so that I could have added my name to the list of local entrepreneurs who had the courage to stand up and express their views against the “Big Box-Store” mentality that is so rampant and decided instead to fight to promote the “Shop Local” philosophy which all of us, including the Peninsula News Review, should be promoting.
In talking to staff at both of my stores in Sidney and to visitors who have visited my stores since that first day (and now a second day) that the front page of the PNR was basically a full page WalMart ad, I have only heard words of condemnation that our “local” newspaper would stoop so low to print an ad from an advertiser that obviously does not have our community at heart only to increase their “bottom line.”
I cannot speak for other retailers in our area, however, if the Peninsula News Review continues to publish ads such as the Walmart ads that undermine the hard work that we are trying to achieve at a local level to make our community a vibrant shopping area, in the future I will stop advertising in the PNR and I will actively recruit other local merchants to boycott advertising in our so-called “local” newspaper.
Jennifer Hill
Sidney