Editor:
Difficult to believe that there was no mention of McKinleyville Central Market in your one-sided piece (“McKinleyville Natural Foods?” July 24). You were so busy on the Eureka Natural Foods parade route with the horses that you failed to mention that the community has been served by a wonderful small-town market for several years. It seems to me that the Littlefields were taking their natural sweet time before parting with hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure ENF would work in McKinleyville successfully. Ten years is a long time to wait to make the leap of faith unless you see it already at work. ENF will take with it a community of small-shop owners and hard-working families.
There will be those who are excited about the prospect of a big natural food store. They will gorge themselves on every new product on the shiny new shelves until they realize what they have done to their town. And don’t get too excited about the prospect of a growler anytime soon as only manufacturers have that privilege.
I know one thing to be true about the hard-working people of McKinleyville after visiting, vacationing and meeting dozens of you over the years. There will always be good-hearted, upstanding, law-abiding people who loved Meatball Monday, having a hand to take groceries to the car, or being called by name as you came in the door. You will miss the faces around town of the young couple that took a chance on a space in a shopping center and turned it into a place of pride to serve their community. Think long and hard about what you want, McKinleyville, before you make the choice.
As for you, Thadeus, this does smell like a horse and it ain’t no parade.
Kerie Berkowitz, Simi Valley
This article appears in Rio Dry.
Wow Kerie, you really talk as if ENF is a corporate chain such as Target or WalMart. I will say I prefer the Co-Op over ENF(selection, freshness & price-wise), but the people who work there are friendly. I always found their staff personable, willing to help and open to suggestions. You talk as though this is coming to a vote, as if this isn’t a free capitalistic society where stores have the right to open. The Co-Op AND ENF both do well in Eureka. The people of McKinleyville have the right to a choice, without driving too far. Furthermore, the small shop will have things to offer ENF will not have to offer, such AS “Meatball Mondays” or personal touches, that will still attract people in the town to continue to shop there – it sounds like they already have a loyal customer base. ENF is not the death of McKinleyville as a tight-knit community, in fact it is actually evidence that the community there is thriving and this is a good thing.
If you should be upset about anything going on in McKinleyville, why not be upset that CVS, a corporate chainstore is coming into town threatening local Cloney’s. They already caused 3 local businesses to relocate/close so they could build where they wanted. It seems to be more of a threat on that “personal community touch” of businesses you so enjoy than ENF is.