The Domino Theory
Experts on economic indicators use "pull factor" figures to predict the future of small towns and counties.
Some areas of Kansas are in great shape while other sections of the state are in serious trouble. Marion County is neither.
Those experts agree that the local economy is based largely on local people and their buying habits.
Aulne used to have a bank and grocery store. Florence, Durham, Lost Springs, and Burns each had an automobile agency. Marion had several.
County seat communities across Kansas had their home town clothing stores for men and women, shoe stores, furniture stores, and lumber yards. Most of them are gone.
Why?
Regional shopping centers' discount stores are only part of the problem.
People's shopping habits are the cause for the domino action that has seen businesses disappear and communities crumble.
If you enjoy being able to buy a quart of milk, loaf of bread, a beef roast, can of beans and such; you'd better patronize your home town market. The same is true for other goods you want to have available locally.
When one domino falls, others aren't far behind. It's up to you. If you enjoy being able to buy locally, you'd better buy locally. If not, that opportunity will be gone. Aulne, Antelope, and other small towns are evidence of that fact. The domino theory, like gravity, is a proven fact.
— BILL MEYER
