Ha ha ha! This One's For Kathy

After hearing about how Shelly tortured her mother in Los Angeles by making her go first to a mall and then to Wal*Mart, I thought of her when I came across a link to this story.

It's a fairly long story that really does prove that news is only interesting when it affects you, so I won't bore you with too many details. The story, from a paper in northern Louisiana, tells of a businessman who started a store -- Dollar Palace -- in a town that nobody else wanted to touch, and how he's now facing competition from Family Dollar, a national chain that carries much of the same merchandise that he carries.

The story is not interesting for that reason -- though it is interesting, if you follow the slow death of small, independent businesses in America -- but I post it for this quote:

Debra Jackson said she likes shopping at the Dollar Palace because it is convenient and casual. "I don't have to get all dressed up like I'm going to Wal-Mart or something," she said.

When we get back to Maryland, perhaps I should start wearing a tie to Wal*Mart...