IDEAS & INFORMATION

In this section of our website we hope to motivate members to think about, discuss, suggest and provide important information related to shopping. Here we will challenge you to re-examine many of the assumptions, attitudes and beliefs that corporate advertisers have built inside your head. We will do our own primary research and present additional facts and figures about commercial trends in the local marketplace. Without being exposed to a wide variety of information, consumers cannot judge the issues for themselves or develop rational and informed opinions of their own.

Whether or not you agree with all, or most, or even any of the opinions and suggestions expressed here, we hope that they will challenge and stimulate your thinking, increase your understanding and appreciation of other points of view, and strengthen the logic and passion of your own arguments. In the end, there is no totally "right" answer. What Einstein proved in physics, is equally true in all of the social sciences. All perception is relative to the unique path of the observer. As individuals, each of us is a perfect piece ...put us all together, however, and we become a puzzle.

The topics below are merely suggestions for a starting point in our discussions. Click on the underlined link of any topic that looks interesting to you and you'll see a summary page for that discussion group. If you're not interested in any of these topics, then click here to suggest one of your own.

Kingston shoppers need to take a serious look at the corporate "Chain Drain" that's pumping millions of dollars out of our local community and sqeezing small, independent, family-owned businesses out of the marketplace. Ten years from now, will there be any independent small businesses in the retail sector at all?

Most of the Big-Box Superstores guarantee that they have the lowest prices ...but how can everyone have the lowest price? And what about the prices of the items that are not on special ...the other 80% or 90% of their merchandise that is not advertised? How does the pricing of our locally-owned, independents compare with them?

It may seem like our municipal government is saving money by hiring out-of-town contractors to provide goods and services ...but what are the additional costs of having those tax dollars no longer circulating in the local community?

Consumers need to understand that it is primarily their purchasing preferences that are shaping the nature of our communities and determining the destiny of the world. Until consumers recognize that the price of almost everything we buy is too low to support social justice, a sustainable environment, real human growth & development, or even healthy, safe communities, no significant positive change will be possible.