Myth or fact about the old Coborn's?

Remember the giant Coborn's shopping cart in our Prairie Pioneer Days parade? From the days of PPD's original iteration, centered at East Side Park? Remember the exciting atmosphere on Sunday? Coborn's is gone, as is the original summer version of PPD. I bemoan the losses.

 

Time to get to the bottom of this: So is it myth or fact that Coborn's was going to build a new store in Morris but just wanted a liquor license? No license was forthcoming. Coborn's peeled out. Is it that simple to understand? 

This matter leads to my next question: Was Morris better off when we had two full-service grocery stores? 

The parking lot in front of Coborn's used to be such a magnet for people in this community. Surely it kept the north end of Atlantic Avenue hopping. People activity is a barometer for a small town. The parking lot drew the McDonald's customers too. And boy, hasn't McDonald's changed the complexion of its business! Even when they accept orders at the counter, I get the strong sense they do not like this. I drive past the place on my way home from breakfast in the morning and almost always see no one "dining in." 

A huge contrast with a past time. 

 

Inflection point

Covid seriously reduced the "people activity" here and in most other places. Since getting over the worst of covid, we have not seen a return to the previous level of people activity. Do you miss it? 

The generation of my parents would not believe how cars get lined up at the "drive through" at McDonald's and other places. Never once have I utilized this system. I learned to do it with banks during the worst of covid. But then then I'd walk up to the window instead of driving. Sitting there in an idling car for a rather long time just does not appeal to me. Furthermore I just don't see the hassle with parking the car, getting out and simply going in to the business. 

How strange am I? So I ask you: would Morris be a more well-rounded place with more than one truly full-service grocery store? Defined probably as a place that offers fruits and vegetables. We hear in the news about "food deserts" around the country. People getting their daily sustenance from "convenience stores?" 

Convenience stores have their niche and they do strive to provide a service. In the big cities I guess they can be a magnet for crime. 

How about having a town with 1 1/2 full-service grocery stores. I have to confess I have not utilized Meadowland Market in Morris. I got word a while back that the west Morris place, formerly UBC, was having problems with in-store vandalism. Sounded to me like prank-type stuff. Is west Morris just not fit for regular commercial activity? I'm old enough to remember the "LaGrand Hotel." 

 

The image at left shows the "LaGrand Hotel" of west Morris. (Image from "Lakes 'n' Woods")

 

I remember a neighborhood grocery store on the west side where I got my first baseball cards. The year had to be 1963. I can visualize the cards. 

Maybe you don't know that Morris was originally planned like Benson, to have the railroad tracks separate two sides of town that would be equals with commercial activity. Morrissites gravitated to Atlantic Avenue. This isn't to say some important business doesn't get done over by Lake Crystal. It's just different. 

West Morris is known for the museum, an odd place - sorry but it's true - because of no convenient nearby parking. We should have just forgotten about the old "Carnegie Library." That building was always more special on the outside than the inside. Actually a lot of "old" buildings are like that. 

My opinion has always been that the museum and public library should be together. We have always had the substantial open space in front of our current library. I feel I have to add the "current" tag because I remember using the prior library which is the museum now: Mom would walk me there and we'd check out books, and we had to be careful to only speak in a faint whisper or be reprimanded! We may have forgotten a lot of these old customs. My, time does pass. 

Being quiet in the library now is a gray area thing. I remember talking with Wally Behm there and his voice was conspicuous. Wally was the high school principal to the boomer generation of Morris. Every community can lionize the names of the school administrators to the unique boomer generation with its teeming numbers and endless distinctive personalities. 

Like all generations, the boomers are slowly leaving us now. We have learned humility in our advanced years. We can definitely look back and regret a lot. We may have regressed when young because we were dumbfounded about the protracted U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war. "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die?" That expression has no reference to drug use which we definitely dove into with both feet, and don't let anyone deny that to you. People with extremely distinguished resumes and important positions today: man, if you only knew the foolishness they engaged in when young! 

I sampled some of the undesirable behavior myself out of peer pressure. I had to pretend it was all really neat. Beer? Was I supposed to be some sort of connoisseur of beer and be able to tell the difference between "brands?" My peers acted like they could. "Hey I got some 'Old Mil'," someone would say. That's "Old Milwaukee." We were supposed to dismiss Hamm's which at least had neat TV commercials. I could not have cared less about all of it. We are all pulled toward the zeitgeist sometimes. I'm no exception. 

 

Subject at hand

"Hello Groceries." I remember that was a tune recorded by the Bill Chase band. So to save myself some work I will quote from my own emails to three people over the last 24 hours. God bless and we hope inflation stops. But it won't. Politicians promote "lower interest rates." Trump wants control over the Federal Reserve. No one now talks about the threat of hyper-inflation. This menace has taken down countries. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

Curly Howard

Del - Pete Rose RIP. Died from hypertension. That was Curly Howard's problem.

There were fireworks over Morris a few minutes ago. It's a shock if you're not expecting it. I don't know what the occasion was, but I'm out of the loop these days.

Caribou sure has problems, their oven has been down for four days. I checked Sunday morning and again this morning and it's no-go. No hot breakfast sandwiches.

This makes me wonder if maybe Paul could use some competition for his store in town or in the county. So is it myth or fact that Coborn's wanted to build a new store but couldn't get a liquor license?

I don't think there are any Homecoming coronation photos online. There really ought to be. You could do it yourself and use Flickr to display in a photo set. Add dreams of glory. Actually the newspaper should do it and slap some photos on website. Sue Dieter was going to go nuts with this sort of thing, scared me from standpoint of overwork. Then I solved that by resigning. If I could have stayed at paper, I would have done something like 45 coronation photo collages by now. Too bad I couldn't do it.

No monopoly business ever runs with peak efficiency. They may say they do but they don't. How many "chips" displays are at Willie's, and I'm constantly seeing the employees re-stocking the "chips." Totally empty and worthless food, addictive. If I walk in there in the evening, I'm wondering "how can I get some food for a simple meal?" Isn't that strange?

- BW

 

Warrenn - The oven at Caribou Coffee has been down four days. I inquired Sunday morning and I inquired Wednesday morning and the oven was down. This has happened before: stuff not working there and it doesn't get fixed fast. Even the coffee-maker.

So my point is this: are we in Morris being hurt by Willie's having almost no competition? I have actually wondered about this for a long time. Most of us have really good vibes from Paul Martin and we trust him. We trust him not to engage in price-gouging but he could do this if he wanted too. He has a monopoly for Stevens County - no other store comes close to offering what they do.

Then again there are "food deserts" in many places. Get food at convenience stores?

Frankly, no monopoly operation is ever going to be as sharp as one with competition. I think that's a truism.

I'm getting more concerned because inflation marches forward. The Federal Reserve is promising aggressive new "rate cuts" and that devalues our currency and pushes inflation up. We have to trust Paul Martin more than ever. I frankly wonder how some people are getting by.

I think one more real push of inflation and we'll see restaurants closing everywhere. Like I told you before, there is no restaurant in Morris where the waitress comes up to you and says "our soup today is. . ." I think this is remarkable. Don's Cafe is hardly a nutrition leader. If Bo decided to leave the restaurant business could he find a buyer for his place? Walk around there and look at the condition of the building's exterior. It may be getting too late for a makeover. And how about a little interior redecorating now and then?

DeToy's used to have a salad bar. They used to have a Sunday chicken buffet. They only have a buffet for Mother's Day and Easter now. Why?

Paul of Willie's, on the ball!

Getting proper nutrition is much harder. You go into Willie's and there are displays of "chips" in various places, all kinds of "chips." I see employees restocking those displays often. That stuff is junk! The store actually sells all sorts of junk.

We had Coborn's once. Is it your understanding that Coborn's was going to build a new store but they couldn't get a liquor license? Is Morris too small for two grocery stores? Didn't we once have three with the old "Holiday" where Coborn's was, and the place across from DeToy's that was Super Valu and then Mitch's? I guess Mitch's was a casualty of the Atlantic Ave. project of Mayor Lee Swanson RIP. 

I'm old enough to remember when Juergensen's Super Valu was a thriving, bustling place.

I have never bought anything at Meadowland Market and I have heard there's problems with in-store vandalism there, prank-type vandalism. I'm suspicious of West Morris in general. I guess that would include Faith Lutheran with the burned-out place right next to it, looking like Europe after WWii.

Would Caribou Coffee get its act together faster if the store had competition?

Re. the Gophers: the onside kick call was a moot point because there was a second infraction by the Gophers on the play that would have been called: touching before the ball went ten yards. I have no interest in the Gophers at present. I'm still interested in Caitlin.

The UMM campus seems dead and dormant. Has the new U president not even made a visit here yet?

I'm in a precarious position because I'm the rare breed of people who still thinks it's important to SAVE money and to get some interest paid. It is getting next to impossible. Banks have been acting like they don't care about depositor money. Such a sea change from a past time. I see where Riverwood has now changed hands. I wonder if they'll make the change to where there's only two people in the whole building when you go in. All this "noise" in the presidential campaign means nothing because I think the central issue ought to be the Federal Reserve. Should we even have that system any more? The Fed jerks interest rates around so much and it doesn't solve anything. People think "lower rates" are always the panacea and that's crap. Inflation destroyed the Roman Empire.

The Fed may be in a no-win situation and that would mean the U.S. is in a no-win situation.

So the school referendum passed. Now it looks like there's a concerted effort to get teacher-approved people on the school board. I can tell from the yard signs. I didn't fall off a turnip truck. The school district will soak us for $ more than ever.

Remember when Gail Nelson won with a write-in vote to displace Liz Harris? Our school district has such a checkered history, it's scary.

High school Homecoming this week. Can we find photos from the coronation anywhere? I used to get so fired-up about this. But there was an element that wanted me gone of course.

- BW

P.S. I realize the banks have been offering "CD specials" but the big fear is what the interest rate will be after they mature. In the past we didn't hear anything about "CD specials" because we just bought the standard CDs. I don't get it.

 

Jerome Powell

Jim - Jerome Powell was all over the news Monday saying the pace of rate cuts might NOT be that fast after all. Why do we accept his behavior and this system? Why is he in the news every 3-4 days with some pronouncement that comes across like it's from the heavens?

Well, Larry Summers says it won't be that easy for the Fed to pull this off. 

But why make speculative comments at all? It jerks my feelings around because I've been through situations were rates paid by banks were going down DAILY, and cascaded down to near-zero. It is very humiliating.

Isn't the dock strike looming as a catastrophe? Here's the deal: Biden ALWAYS takes the union's side. You probably know that. Totally knee-jerk. But what if the American people start getting really hurt? Then they'll realize they have a president who would never intervene against the union. And if people get mad it might open the door for Trump to win. Trump will say things like a blowhorn to promise he'd resolve it, and I actually think he would.

So what will happen? I think Kamala might engineer the 25th Amendment to get Biden removed quickly, then she can become president and do whatever it takes to keep the dock strike from causing a disaster across America. I'm serious.

 

- BW