Not in the mall please...

Most of the products we buy are eventually given as gifts, and so need to communicate a thought or feeling. Our goal is to have the recipient of your gift say: WOW! Where'd ya get that?!" We want to tease, to wake up and to arouse curiosity about the world we live in We want to tell stories. In this respect we see ourselves as decorators of personalities, homes and bodies, merchants of props, toys and excuses to communicate something, if not profound, just plain meaningful.

In doing this we've noticed a buying strategy emerge. We've consistently avoided items that find their way into the mass markets. We figure that to survive mall life any product has to be manufactured in very large quantities…this is good for electronics, but artifacts and crafts lose something precious under the pressures of production. Another way to apply that strategy is for us to look for items that tell a cultural, spiritual or personal story. 

Not only is the gift more likely to inspire or surprise, as business owners, we feel that we also combat that creeping uniformity that has been shaping the consumer landscape for decades now. What we may not be noticing is that this uniformity is also shaping our thinking. We are becoming dull and restless. We're all going to sleep. The basic human need for novelty and discovery, a driving force in human evolution, is ceasing to be a factor in our everyday life. Drive 1000 miles in any direction visiting malls along the way and you'll notice they all look the same. This may be a tribute to the efficiency of a strong economy but as a consuming population we're going hungry. We feel that artifacts old and new from "other places" help us fight back just a little, to reclaim our curiosities, and wake up to the world around us. In this sense, we would like to think of our business as a strange version of consumer therapy.

A buying strategy also reflects how we define our business to ourselves. In a way it is an art form that expresses our view of the world, or a challenge to the business notions that seem unhealthy, but always questions our own participation. Is it good what we do? Is it good for everyone? And this leads us to think further. Maybe someone needs to give US a few pink flamingoes and we'll think less, but, here are some issues and questions that are raised as we look beyond our buying strategy.

Issue Number One is plain and simple: there is already too too much stuff in the world. We would also like to contribute some sanity to endless and mindless consumerism that we suspect is aggravated by the onslaught of sameness in the consumer market. Like an addict who buys more and is still not satisfied. Even though we're sales oriented and depend on you buying from us, we would like to encourage everyone to buy less or at least be more discerning about what you think you need to be yourself.

Another question that reaches beyond the immediate business of retailing is what impact are we having on the producers from other cultures? Are we paying enough to these producers? Are there middlemen who take advantage by trading in between disparate economies? Are children involved in a modern slavery of the craft economy? Are we helping to preserve culture or hastening it's demise by stimulating its production way beyond the cultural norm?

Artisans in less developed countries exist within a different economy, and it's not always easy to sort out. $5 in Mali goes a long way. In some cases when the West discovers a craft or talent (we've noticed this more in West Africa) indigenous entrepreneurs set up sweat shops near a coastal port to mass produce trinkets that are used to buy Western made electronics and appliances. In a sense a whole new trinket economy develops to meet the demands of Western collecting. While the art of carving may be preserved, the cycle of consumerism has begun anew, usually with a rejection of the family values that gave the original craft its meaning. On the other hand, there is nothing more arrogant than to capture an indigenous culture's quaintness to display on our shelves under the notion of preservation, while they starve for economic development that brings roads, hospitals and utilities. 

The story of one way of life conquering another is not new. Five hundred years ago European people discovered America and simply took it leaving a trail of disease, family dislocation, and alcoholism. In modern times, the invasions are done economically leaving a trail of consumerism, a hyperactive work ethic, and a newfound materialism. We don't really know the answers, but we see that we're involved in commerce between many dissimilar cultures, and we're aware of it. We would like to understand it better.

Even good rules like a buying strategy eventually begin to unravel in practice. This year we began to consider lightly manufactured items, intended for their domestic use, in foreign countries. It's easy to spot these items because they are not packaged for the west. Our Greek soap and Chinese chopsticks are two examples. They tell a story about the people of that country and their daily habits, their preferences but they are not generally sold as tourist trinkets.

And yes, pink flamingoes do tell a story, and they are mass-produced. I guess we're not quite ready to take on that story. However, just in case our culture gets tired of meaningful stories of past family loyalties, cultural symbolism and totems forgotten, we're keeping a dairy for a new buying strategy for our two new domains entitled goatsaccordion.com and beetnik.com. That's for next time. 

Cheers,
Gene

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