YOUR AD HERE »

Letter to the Editor: Have we been Aspenized?

Dave Wallace
Truckee

I’m getting a lot of e-mails about and#8220;Buying localand#8221; for Christmas. I would love to do that.

I could drive two minutes to downtown, Gateway or beyond, and save myself many hours of commuting. But there is a problem: the merchants, many of them, are not interested in my business at all.

Do I want a pair of $265 jeans with tears at the seams and holes in the knees at a Northstar boutique? I don’t think so. Or perhaps a $300-plus sweater for my wife from a shop on commercial row? She would kill me. Or a $3,700 bicycle from, well, you know. I guess not.



I do shop, you know. But I’m a local, not someone who flies in on his private jet and needs a bauble for his girlfriend. Twenty years ago I would gripe about this when I visited Aspen. Now we have been and#8220;Aspenized.and#8221;

Think about it merchants. There are 14,000 people here just like me, some make more, some make less, but heck, we would rather not travel 80 miles round trip to shop, or wait weeks for the stuff to come from the online store. But in these trying times, we can’t afford you.


Support Local Journalism

 

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and beyond make the Sierra Sun's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.