While this is certainly not something I can pull-off at this time, it is something I've thought about for a while. Do you guys think it would be successful, or would it tank?

The idea is simple, a store that only sells items Made in the U.S.A. (maybe say 80% American-made as a minimum for the product to be sold in the store)

...start out with tools, appliances, toys, and clothing (something for everyone and things people need) and try to grow the business into other areas to compete with the "big-box" type stores.

All advertising, and even the name of the store would be something "patriotic" sounding to attract customers who care about our economy. I think there are a lot of people out there who, like me, would rather buy American, but don't know where to even find some items (electronics for example), or get lazy and just buy the first thing they find on small-items.

Sounds like a great idea if you can find anything to sell in it. That 80% might be hard to hit.

LK

I think the opinions on this American muscle car bulletin board may be a bit skewed towards buying American.

Now go back to working on your car. slacker.

Are you reading my mind? I've been thinking about that for about 6 months now. Matter vs. Anti-matter...Wal-mart vs. Anti-Wal-Mart. I have NOT done anything with the idea because I think it's a sure road to financial ruin: Most of the Great Unwashed are too slow/desperate/unthinking to even look at the tag to find out where stuff is made. Short-term (non?) thinking is all they're capable of. Even when it's their jobs at stake.

Until this country wises up and institutes an import tax, we're gonna get closer 'n' closer to that drain we're circling. The worst possible place to import stuff from is Communist China. Those goods should require the highest level of taxation. I would use the import tax INSTEAD OF a personal income tax--No April 15 filing date, no record keeping, no IRS stormtroopers for ordinary citizens to worry about. Only the corporate income tax would remain.

I buy used stuff off of eBay because I can't find what I want "new". On the other hand, even after paying shipping I usually wind up paying about half of retail, so it isn't all bad...

I think the opinions on this American muscle car bulletin board may be a bit skewed towards buying American.Good point, but it won't let me add another question to the poll...

2nd question should be:
Do you think it would be successful?
1. Yes, There are many people who feel the same way.
2. No, not enough people care, or they are too cheap to pay "U.S. made" prices.

2nd question should be:
Do you think it would be successful?
1. Yes, There are many people who feel the same way.
2. No, not enough people care, or they are too cheap to pay "U.S. made" prices.

3. No, because you'd have a difficult time stocking a store that was worth going to.

It would be easy to have a "American Made' store with an eclectic assortment of stuff made here, but to have a store that could fill the needs of a consumer while at the same time having American Made products would be (in my opinion) difficult

ie: If you could have a hardware store that was entirely stocked with American made stuff, people would shop there, but only if they didn't have to stop at Ace or True Value on the way home to get the rest of what they needed

Sounds like a great idea if you can find anything to sell in it. That 80% might be hard to hit.

LK

yeah because Walmart has already driven all the American manufacturers (a la Rubbermaid) out of business by importing crap from China made with slave labor and selling it below what domestic manufacturers can touch.

Maybe try creating an Ebay store first and see if it works out. Starting any business can be rough on the pocketbook if you have to pay rent on a building.

Good point, but it won't let me add another question to the poll...

2nd question should be:
Do you think it would be successful?
1. Yes, There are many people who feel the same way.
2. No, not enough people care, or they are too cheap to pay "U.S. made" prices.
Derek, I think you'd open a big can of worms with this. You'd have to hire child labor in order to keep the costs of products manageable, you don't want to be labeled the next "NIKE" do you? :D JN

Derek, I think you'd open a big can of worms with this. You'd have to hire child labor in order to keep the costs of products manageable, you don't want to be labeled the next "NIKE" do you? :D JN

or the next "Michael Jackson" :D

Sounds like a great idea if you can find anything to sell in it. That 80% might be hard to hit.

LK

That ain't no lie. I've been trying to find a DVD player. I found two that weren't made in China. One was made in Indonesia, the other in Malaysia. I didn't expect to find any that are made here, but I will do without before buying anything made in a communist country that less than 20 years ago, crushed people under tanks to supress their human rights. I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA, PERIOD!! I now check labels on everything before I buy. I'll settle for products that are at least made in this hemisphere if I can't find any made in the USA. My life was fine without VCRs and DVD players before they were invented, and if China is the only place that makes them sometime in the future, I'll do without.

Wal-Mart would drop their WALL-OF-DOOM on top of your idea if it was possible for you to find an American made product to sale in your store. We are shipping so much stuff overseas these days the men from WWII and WWI are rolling over in thier graves!

We used to say the same thing about goods made in Japan. Oh no, that cheap Japanese stuff. Now their cars and electronics are some of the best. Go figure.

I think its a great idea, but as said before the general population has their head in the sand.
Furthermore to be a "Legitimate" American made store, you would have to ensure all facets of your stores construction was American Made. At which point you would already be behind the curve and further in debt before your doors even open.
Rob

wasn't that the way Wal-Mart was about 15 years ago? mostly made-in-the-USA products?
then Sam died and his kids and stockholders took over...

Bad Idea.
1. The public has already voted with their $ and Wal Mart won. So forget the patriotic appeal.

2. Any successful retailer needs a niche to compete against large volume department stores. So you need to specailize and offer something to attract clients such as greater selection and or quality.

wasn't that the way Wal-Mart was about 15 years ago? mostly made-in-the-USA products?
then Sam died and his kids and stockholders took over...

Thats my understanding.

I'd like to see it. Don't know if its feasable, but dang, I sure wish it happened.
I can't even find jeans made in the USA anymore.

Textiles, like clothes might be a good place to start.

Old Navy stuff is cheap, but I'd pay double for made in USA stuff.

wasn't that the way Wal-Mart was about 15 years ago? mostly made-in-the-USA products?
then Sam died and his kids and stockholders took over...

15 years ago, big business was still here in the USA. I hauled out the old Trek bikes I bought about 14 years ago for myself and the wife, to take my daughter riding on her new, $300 Stumpjumper (made in China, of course. :sad: ) I did duly note that both of my Treks, '92 6000 for me, '94 820 for the wife, have Made in USA stickers on them. Try to find those today. Only Treks with those stickers are the carbon fiber frames. Everything else is made in China. :sad:

FWIW, you CAN still find quality, competetively priced products made in the USA. Oreck vacuums are made in Mississippi, and competitively priced, too. Bought a nice frosted, decorative mirror for my half bath renovation, made in USA. As noted in the Walmart thread in CE, I've taken note that expensive sheets of oak plywood are being imported these days, so it pays to check before you buy. It all costs the same, it's up to you who you want to keep in business.

Derek, as far as your idea, first thing you'd have to do is move to an area with more than 5 people per square mile, to drum up some business. :D Ideally, you'd have to start in an area that could afford the slightly higher priced, but better quality products. And it'd have to be an area that isn't saturated with 1st and 2nd generation immigrants, as they could care less if anything's made in America. If you could find such a place, and start being successful, you could then offer it up as a franchise. Much cheaper way for you to expand your business, since people are paying you to use your idea, and still have to adhere to your rules. ;) Of course, then you'd eventually turn into one of those evil empirical bosses that everyone hates, because you live in the biggest house on the hill. :sad:

Derek, as far as your idea, first thing you'd have to do is move to an area with more than 5 people per square mile, to drum up some business. :D Ideally, you'd have to start in an area that could afford the slightly higher priced, but better quality products. And it'd have to be an area that isn't saturated with 1st and 2nd generation immigrants, as they could care less if anything's made in America. If you could find such a place, and start being successful, you could then offer it up as a franchise.
Honestly, I think I'm in a pretty good area for it to work. If I were to start it, I'd go 30 miles to Rochester MN, which has seen some serious effects from offshoring our products (IBM located here downsized significantly... I think half the city worked there, or for one of the local places that made things for them) so there are a lot of people here who care about the situation. There is still a lot of money here (Mayo Clinic employs the other half of the city) so many people CAN afford to shop there. Also, I'd guess 80% of the cars around here are from the big-3. You don't see many foreign cars here, like you do in bigger cities.

Startup costs would be astronomical though, so if any millionaires out there are reading this, my address is P.O. Box 75, Dexter, MN 55926 ;) :D

I think Kurt makes the best point, though. It would be very difficult to offer a wide enough range of products to keep customers coming back.

...so I guess I'm left with my 24hour parts-store/gas-station idea which came to me while working on my car and breaking stuff at 2 a.m. on a Sunday :D

DEREK,great idea.supporting other countrys by buying their goods has got to stop. I think you would do fine---

67rat bob hetrick

I can't even find jeans made in the USA anymore.


Here's two places:

http://www.pointerbrand.com/ProductCatalog.asp

http://www.unionjeancompany.com/

I'd gladly buy anything made in the USA over stuff imported. The quality just isn't there for the most part in the imported stuff. I was hoping to start the same type of store, but just don't have the funding right now to do so.

I did duly note that both of my Treks, '92 6000 for me, '94 820 for the wife, have Made in USA stickers on them. Try to find those today. Only Treks with those stickers are the carbon fiber frames. Everything else is made in China. :sad:

FWIW, it's still pretty easy to find an American Made bicycle frame if you're willing to pay for a quality frame. But most people want a cheap bike and that = cheap labor which, in turn means overseas construction

Also, the Trek factory in Waterloo makes a good number of their upper end steel frames along with all the carbon frames, under the brands of Trek, LeMond, Klein, and Gary Fischer

That said, even with an American made frame, you'll have a heck of a time finding many components that aren't made overseas

DEREK,great idea.supporting other countrys by buying their goods has got to stop. I think you would do fine---

67rat bob hetrick

It's way too late now, like Dale said WE have voted, starting many years ago.

IF you could find enough American made stuff to put in inventory, the price would be too high for the majority of us so we would still shop a Wally World.
Most people just don't care.

There has been no honor amoung Americans and very little loyality to our country since the end of WW2.
Almost everyone wants to make $30.00 an hour and spend it on forign made products.
Simple math, it can't keep working that way.

And we ain't seen nuttin yet, wait till WE ARE TOTALLY OWNED by forign people.
Yes they are buying up American soil with our money.....

And add to all that our government refuses to stop illegal immigration.

There will be no jobs for our grandchildren except to work for forigners or as a laborer unloading forign products coming in.

But, we might as well keep on buying those Forign cars cause it is too late now.

It's way too late now, like Dale said WE have voted, starting many years ago.


Yes we did Dean. Remember those stamped steel cars from Japan. The ones when you turned them over they still had the original paint from the beer/soda cans on them.
Cheap Japanese junk along with the paper fans that folded out. No harm, after all their butts were whipped but 15 years earlier.

We used to say the same thing about goods made in Japan. Oh no, that cheap Japanese stuff. Now their cars and electronics are some of the best. Go figure.

The BIIIG problem is, Joe's right. Japanese products just aren't "junk" anymore. Think about it.....they've gone polar opposite to American when it comes to the automobile. Think: <1978 Tercel = Junk • 2006 Lexus = Great>
BUT...<1968 Malibu = Great • 2006 Malibu = hmmm...>

So, there's no arguement that Japanese quality has increased along with their economy. "Here's the Clincher..." (Good song by Chevelle, BTW :D )
...the other countries are going to do the same! Sure, we can pass off the Chinese rip-off designs and sub-par quality as Junk NOW, but I guarantee you...in ten years AAALLLLL that $$$ we are pumping into their economy (thanks to Wal-Mart and the common American consumer) WILL allow them to increase their quality control, and R&D, and everything else that will make them more competitive to other manufacturers.
This may sound like I am defending them, but I assure you that is not so. Quite the opposite....call it a warning. Brush up on your Chinese, boys and girls, because at the rate they are going, China IS going to be the next superpower.....and WE are going to be doing cheap labor for THEM, seeing as there won't BE any American jobs left by then.
(Has anyone noticed that Spanish is no longer considered the essential secondary language in school anymore? They are suggesting the kids learn Mandarin Chinese!! If that isn't a clue, then I don't know what is!)
Sorry for the rant!
-Gambi69

Actually Gambi69 might be on to something. My first harbor freight/chinese engine stand is barely coted in paint and seems a little light-weight. I twas bought 10 years ago. The second one bought for less money 2 years ago is 10x the quality and actually powder coated. SO I agree some of their quality is improving.

I think it's a great idea Derek. But, I think you'd be more successful if you narrowed your range of products. Wal-Mart tried the Made-In-USA deal and through either the cheapiness of their shoppers or the decision of the Board of Directors and Stockholders went the lowest cost route.

Maybe differentiate between simply Made-in-USA and produced AND assembled in the USA. Some items are made in the USA with foreign parts and some items are made in the USA with 100% USA parts.

You can get a lot of USA items, but it usually takes a bit of searching and typically demands more $$$. I think Electronics and Appliances are two of the hardest categories of items to find made in the USA.

Some ideas of a store you could open that carries a certain category of items (all Made in USA):

Lawn and Yard Equipment
Office Products
Tools (hand or power or both)
Construction Equipment

I think those categories would be fairly easy to stock Made-in-USA products.

On the bicycle subject, YETI hand builds all their frames in Colorado. AVID (brake levers, etc.) are USA built or they use to be anyway. White Industries builds USA made hubs (Ti and Aluminum) in Petaluma, CA. TNT used to build Ti bottom brackets. Grip-Shift is USA made (or used to be). AMP Research was or is USA made. In 1996, my brother bought a Schwinn Homegrown Factory USA mountain bike. EVERY part on the bike was USA made (using many of the brands I listed above) and the frame was also made in the USA. I think it cost $3,500. He still has the bike and many of the parts. But in general, I think it's tough to get a true USA made bicycle these days.