Competition can be harmful to small businesses | Letter to the Editor

Published 11:31 am Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Is competition always a good thing?

I live on Vashon, and I try to shop as much as possible here. What makes the shopping on Vashon more agreeable is to go from one small shop to another, to have a personal and a knowledgeable contact with the shop’s tenant. I suppose it is also one of the touristic attractions of Vashon and a nice change from the mega-stores across the Sound.

It was very disappointing to learn that Island Lumber plans to expand beyond its own specialties of garden supplies, hardware and building materials into other supplies such as liquor after having pushed into animal foods. What is to be next after the huge, dazzling advertising screen and the relentless expansion without regard to the community of small shops? The air conditioned shopping mall? (At least the parking lot is ready for that.)

Yes, I like competition when forces are more or less equal; otherwise this sort of mega-shop competition can only mean the short-term demise of our Vashon shopping community and its replacement by a monopoly.

— Emma Newby-Letestu