Sunday, April 18, 2010

The day 'Burger Barn' came to town.

It quite reminded me of a scene right out of the movie, "Whats eating Gilbert Grape" starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo Di Caprio.  The entire town was obsessively excited of the much anticipated arrival of the food chain "Burger Barn" and how it would revolutionize the way this small quiet humdrum town would look at a hamburger.  A definitive sign that all which was small and humdrum about this quiet town was about to forever be changed!  Very much similar of the prior arrival of "Food World" and how it's presence in this same small humdrum town all but eliminated the mom and pop general store, which ironically Gilbert Grape had a job with.  Yes, and so it is, the day Burger Barn came to town, life would never be the same.

Personally speaking, I won't be in on the excitement.  Oh, Maryann could not resist the curiosity, the intrigue.....even though she knew better, she dared to explore the entity which has had the entire peninsula chatting and dreaming of this day.....the day their shopping mantra would arrive in the small and one time quiet and humdrum town of Kenai.  As I suspected, she was totally disappointed, and vowed to never really go there again, for it served no personal fulfillment, nor satisfaction to her needs and desires.  Me, I grin and giggle at the whole overblown fanaticism of this entity, they call Walmart.  BLAGH!

Maryann's journey into the fabled box store of box stores was pretty amazing for her.  She described it as being in another place.  She constantly felt like her intellect was being tested.  She reported that the people there were all walking around like they were spell bound, mesmerized even.  It was like some surreal journey into a bizzaro world.  I found it interesting.  I googled 'Walmart' and this is what I found.  Here goes:




Honestly folks, to each his own!  I have long held my opinion of what Walmart really stands for in our society, economy, and trade.  These pics obviously portray someone's twisted sense of humor....which ya gotta admit, there are some comical moments here...  When Maryann asked a simple question to one of the employees there, "where is your natural and organic section", the woman looked at her like she was  garbling some kind of haberdash and replied, "this aint Fred Meyers!".  Well, I guess that says it all!  Freddies has had our business since we landed and will continue to have it.  The one thing that puzzles me to no end.....why would anybody build a Walmart in Kenai?  I mean, have any of you been through Kenai lately??  It hardly constitutes what is considered a large town, in fact, it is so out of the mainstream.  Well, I mean, what town or village on the peninsula is any kind of mainstream?!  It just doesn't seem like it belongs,  This is why we have Anchorage.  Walmart is by no means part of the Alaskan dream....at least, ours anyways!

3 comments:

The Boehme Family said...

I still haven't been there and don't plan to. Dpug says it has ruined the small town feel of our small town.

Kenai Alaska Or Bust! said...

Yes, you are so right! It is so so sad. We knew that it was planned before we even moved here, but we hoped it would never emanate. Good for you for turning it down! As I said, I have never been to the one in Anchorage, and surely won't be spending time in this one! Maybe they will fold due to lack of business and they will tear it down and return the land to it's natural state! I have seen that kind of thing happen once before!!

Ange said...

I could not help but chuckle at these photos! Now I do spend some time at Walmart. You have to know I live in Gilbert, AZ where most families are in the 30 to 40ish age range with 3 kids or more! However, I have to agree with Maryann. So many times it seems like people are in their own little world or spell bound. Reminds me of a run in I had at WILDMART a few weeks ago. I met a quite friendly lady at the banana stand. She began to share her own opinions about the place. She said, "You know, every time I come in here I notice that all the shoppers are over weight." I thought to myself, "Thanks lady." She then began to tell me about all the poisons in the meats. As she continued in her long detailed decription I wanted to say, "Well, kind lady, if everyone is so overweight and unhealthy and the food is poisonous, why in the sand hill are you shopping here?" However, I decided to just be gracious with the excuse that my 11 kids were waiting at home for their healthy lunch! By the way, the last photo of the lady with the cat...I think that is me! HAHAHAHAHA
Thanks Greg! I really enjoyed this post.