Surviving Gains and Losses

These past three years have hit hard the average citizen who's spending money has diminished while unemployment numbers have risen along with the cost of living. The consumer market is down as is consumer spirit. Residents of nearly every city have seen stores close, and in every corner, "For Lease" or "For Sale" signs are posted in windows of vacant buildings. Store owners and managers wait anxiously for that one customer or two or few to come through their doors with the slim chance that they will make a purchase, and if they are to buy, they 'shop 'til they drop' for that bargain piece or advertised special. Many retailers have not survived; some are on their last leg, while others will survive, getting through the current hard times by identifying with the customer base they serve.
One such company is Stater Bros., the largest privately owned supermarket chain in Southern California and, according to the Daily Bulletin, the largest private employer in San Bernardino County with 19,000 employees. Last week, the chain reported a third-quarter decline of 60 percent in profits yet sales were down only 0.6 percent for the third quarter. Because their customers did not have the spending power, Stater Bros. cut prices on 10,000 items last year and absorbed a 66 percent reduction in profits to accommodate their customers. Costs rose but prices did not.
For the past 30 some years, I have shopped Stater Bros. because they have shown to be a community minded company with one set of prices (regular or sale) available to all their customers without club, saving or membership cards. Despite losses, the chain continues to support area charities, food banks and children's hospitals among other benevolent acts of giving. I encourage everyone to find and support a Stater Bros. within his/her community. There are 52 markets in San Bernardino County, 47 in Riverside County, 30 in Orange County, 25 in Los Angeles County, and 11 in San Diego County. I encourage you to find and sponsor companies, retailers, businesses and organizations that know the essential right actions, that once taken, will put their customers, the average citizen in step with the natural order of things and on course with what comes next. Gains and losses are built in to our lives, like windows and doors in a car. Companies like Stater Bros. understand this. We experience prosperity when our actions with respect to money are righteous actions--that is, actions of generosity, actions of offering. Companies that seek merely their personal gain do not have an understanding of what money will do for them and others to sustain us through the windows and doors of life. In the long run, businesses such as Stater Bros. will be the survivors hand in hand with their customer base.

This I humbly speak...
(No, I am neither the spokeswoman for Stater Bros. nor do I have a vested interest in the company.I do, however, support many of their charities and charity events.)