The painful reminder from Shopko's demise

Bye bye, local bricks and mortar department stores.

Places people like to shop are disappearing. Kmart; gone. Sears; gone. And this June, Shopko will limp to the same retail graveyard.

“Should’ve seen it coming,” the experts will say. “When you’re paying for a whole bunch of infrastructure and extra employees, you can’t compete with online retailers.”

And we say to the experts: Stuff it.

Without singing a Shopko lament too long or too loud, The Press feels a special pang of loss for the Green Bay-based company. For the last decade or so, the newspaper’s Christmas charity, Press Christmas for All, has received tremendous support from Shopko. Along with Super 1 Foods, Shopko has donated 10 percent of whatever amount of gift cards The Press purchased. Most years the total is around $100,000 for Shopko, which means the retailer has pitched in about $10K each year.

Shopko employees have distinguished themselves by treating Press Christmas for All recipients warmly and with respect. At a time when so many of the CFA clients are at low ebb, Shopko workers have gone above and beyond to brighten their holidays. Long after the store closes its doors, Coeur d’Alene Shopko employees’ kindness will be remembered.

Shopko, Kmart and Sears have succumbed to untenable market conditions, and they’re likely to be joined sooner and later by others. But we hope the message to local consumers gets through, particularly those who care about their community.

The message is this: Patronize local businesses or pay the consequences.

Online retailers raked in $517.36 billion in 2018, up 15 percent from $449.88 billion the year before, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. That’s more than half a trillion dollars sucked out of communities like ours last year. Many of those dollars would have gone instead to employee paychecks. Many would have circulated throughout local economies and supported other local businesses. Many also would have manifest as charitable donations and other forms of support for clubs, churches and important activities.

Yes, it’s convenient to shop on your butt without ever leaving your house or apartment. You can save a little money on gas and wear-and-tear on the car. But you might not be buying what fits or what you really want, and you sure as hell aren’t doing your community any good when you move that cursor to checkout.

Please, whenever possible, shop locally.

Use ‘em or lose ‘em, folks.