Prices the cause of Sheena’s downfall

Are you kidding me? I canonly speak for myself, buthow is it that every businessfailure, personal failure, etc.becomes a lesson in bigotryor a race issue? I shopped atDiMaggio’s, then VG’s thenSheena’s; but when I lookedat the prices, I was appalled.One example was rice noo-dles. I buy them a lot andwhen VG’s had the biz, theywere $1.09. The very nextweek at Sheena’s they were$1.59. My heart breaks forthe people who lost theirjobs; I knew a lot of themand called them more thanacquaintances, truly friends,but the prices were ridicu-lous after the new ownerstook over. So let’s look at thereal reason the store failed: Ithad nothing to do with thenew owners, I didn’t knowthem from Adam. I onlyknew that the prices wentthrough the roof.LINDA GLAZNew Baltimore

Reader: No racialprofiling in NewBaltimore

I was very upset about thearticle in The Voice about theclosing of Sheena’s Market.

New Baltimore is not aracist town; we have manyArabic-owned businesses inNew Baltimore and theyseem to do fine.

The main reason Sheena’s

failed is because their priceswere too high and Kroger isonly a 60-second ride fromthem (also Meijer is not faraway).

It just makes me upset forsomeone to say the closingwas due to “ethnic differ-ences.” I have lived in NewBaltimore for over 15 yearsand never have seen orheard about any racial profil-ing against anyone.GREG PAGELNew Baltimore

Sheena’s will bemissed, but ‘prejudiced’claims off mark

Since moving here in1979, I shopped exclusivelyat DiMaggio’s, back when itwas located at the currentSalvation Army plaza onGreen Street.

I followed them to thenew store on 23 Mile Roadand continued to shop thereafter it became VG’s. I lovedthe hometown feel of thestore. Even back then, beforeit was popular to shopMichigan, I tried to supportlocal businesses: MichaelBrother’s, the women’s storethat was located whereStahl’s bakery now is, Larry’sPenny Candy Store, etc.

I empathize with all theemployees that lost theirjobs after Sheena’s failed.However, I resent the impli-cation that I am one of the“prejudiced” city residents.My husband was forced out

of Chrysler three years ago,and our income was cut inhalf. At that time I wasspending approximately$1,000 dollars a month ongroceries, with three kids stillat home. We needed to find away to cut our budget and,unfortunately, after VG’sbecame Sheena’s, I noticed adefinite rise in prices onSpartan-brand goods that Iregularly purchased. Weshopped around and foundanother local grocer to be abetter deal overall.

I had mentioned the priceincreases to a clerk as a rea-son not to shop there regu-larly and was told that Ineeded to shop the “sales.”Well, the items on sale didn’talways fulfill all my shoppingneeds.

I will miss the deli, as noone around New Baltimoreoffers the delicious home-made salads thatDiMaggio’s/VG’s/Sheena’sdid. And the service wasalways great, seeing familiarfaces every week for so manyyears.

Hopefully the formeremployees can find somecomfort that economic reali-ties caused the downfall, notprejudices of a few cus-tomers.SHERRY COLENew Baltimore

Racism’s role instore closureovershadowed byhigh prices

As a longtime resident ofthe area, I’m ashamed toadmit acquaintance with astore that would support asmear campaign as was dis-played in the article, “FormerSheena’s employees questionreasons behind NB market’sdownfall.” The previouslySpartan-owned business wasquickly becoming a financialsinkhole long before NickJamil took ownership and tosuggest their failing cus-tomer base and bottom linehad more to do with racismand less to do with poorbusiness skills seems ludi-crous, unjust and, quitefrankly, untrue.

Customer loyalty con-vinced me to stay withSheena’s for several monthsafter its re-opening only to

notice a dramatic increase inprices. In these difficult eco-nomic times, it’s irresponsi-ble and cruel to blame thepublic for stretching theirdollars where their dollarswill stretch farther. If thathappens to be a corporatechain, such as Walmart orKroger, then perhaps smallerbusinesses need to re-evalu-ate their competitive pricing,and prove their loyalty totheir customer base by pro-viding a service at an afford-able rate.

Though bigotry may havereared its ugly head duringthe entire, tragic course ofevents, I have serious doubtsracism was a prominent role,or a role at all, in the failureof this business to succeed,especially when you consid-er the neighboring DollarTreasure is moving alongquite well without any helpfrom a middle-class, whitemanagement.NICOLE HANNAChesterfield

Store’s name notthe source ofSheena’s woes

I was shocked by the arti-cle in the Dec. 1 edition ofThe Voice regarding the clos-ing of the Sheena’s market inNew Baltimore.

I saw no mention in thearticle how other stores haveopened in the area thusincreasing competition. TheMeijer store just opened inLenox Township right beforeVG’s changed hands toSheena’s, and Wal-Mart was

also just redone into a SuperWal-Mart.

Secondly, this is adepressed economy. Ourpopulation has been drop-ping, and this area can onlysupport so many grocerystores.

Sheena’s is not a large gro-cery chain. The larger gro-cery franchises have the abil-ity to take profits from onestore that is doing well anduse those profits to helpstores that aren’t doing well.Sheena’s didn’t have thatoption.

Also, once the storechanged hands, prices ongroceries went up. My wifeand I found our grocery billsto be $10-$25 higher eachtime we shopped at Sheena’svs. the times we went toKroger.

Sheena’s Market in Romeoseems to be doing OK andthe consumer demographicsbetween Romeo and NewBaltimore are not that muchdifferent. Many businessesin New Baltimore have own-

ers from different ethnicbackgrounds, and thoseplaces seem to be holdingtheir own. For some of theemployees to conclude that“bigotry” is the reason forthe closing just shows anunwillingness to understand.

My heart truly goes out tothose employees affected,but if the name of the storewas really the reason thestore closed then why didn’tthe owners consider chang-ing it? If they truly suspectedthat ethnical bias was atplay, why not change thename back to VG’s? Wouldn’tthat make more sense ratherthan to close the store andlay everyone off?

It wasn’t done, and myguess is that it was becausethe owners knew, as we do,that the store closed becauseof increased competition,higher fixed costs, and adepressed economy.MATT HOXSIENew Baltimore

Residents appreci-ate food boxes

To the volunteers fromFirst Evangelical LutheranChurch, we thank you andappreciate you for all yourhard work with making thefood boxes for us. All of usfrom the Algonquin Placewere very surprised to havethem. We are grateful to have

volunteers who really care.Once again, thank you somuch and God bless you.NELSON STRINGER,Executive Director ofHousing Commission,and The Tenants of theAlgonquin PlaceAlgonac

Caring people still out there

On Saturday, Nov. 20, mydaughter and son-in-lawwere waiting to be seated atTexas Roadhouse inChesterfield, when mydaughter passed out. Shewas transported to the hos-pital after 911 was called. Iwould like to thank the staffand all the bystanders thathelped my son-in-law lay heron the bench and waitedwith them until the ambu-lance arrived. It’s comfortingto know there still are caringpeople who take time to helpothers. I wish you all a veryblessed Christmas!SANDRA LAEDERChesterfield

Big Boy gives seniors aThanksgivingmeal with friends

On behalf of the seniorcitizens that attend theWashington Life Center, Iwould like to thank PaulBrunhuber of the MarineCity Big Boy restaurant. Everyyear, Paul graciously providescoupons for the seniors inthis area to enjoy the oppor-tunity to socialize with theirfriends while sharing aThanksgiving meal. Many ofthese individuals would havebeen alone otherwise. Thankyou, Paul, for being so caring

and generous.DEBBIE HERATY, SupervisorWashington Life CenterThe Council on Aging, serv-ing St. Clair County

Santa arrivesagain this year

To the owners andemployees of AlgonacLumberjack, thank you fordelivering Santa to the kidsin such an exciting way everyyear! Santa coming by heli-copter is one of our favoritefamily traditions. I love see-ing all those smiling faces.Have a very merryChristmas.LESLEY DURIKAlgonac

Movie highlightsdangers of ‘chemical valley’

Thank you for publishingthe story about the movie“The Beloved Community.”Many people appear to beunaware of the damage toxicemissions from chemicalplants do to our health. Whenthese toxic chemicals are in

our air, food and water, wecannot avoid them.The article stated thatone woman who was

tested had 30 car-cinogens and 31 repro-ductive/developmentaltoxins in her blood andurine. That should bevery alarming to every-one. The article asks usto urge our representa-

tives, including RepublicanCandice Miller, to continue tofund the Drinking WaterProtection Network. I believewe should also urge our rep-resentatives to pass legisla-tion to strictly regulate theamount of deadly pollutionthat chemical and utilityindustries spew into ourenvironment and include

strict penalties for exceedingthese levels. Monetary finesare not effective, as corpora-tions pay them and thenrecoup the money by raisingprices. Penalties shouldinclude criminal chargesagainst the CEOs of corpora-tions responsible for exceed-ing safe emissions. Only thenwill corporations pay atten-tion. Unfortunately, the 45percent of voters who votedon Nov. 2 put Republicansand Tea Partiers in charge ofevery state and the federalgovernment. Republicansrarely enact legislation that isgood for people if it is bad forthe corporations that donateto them. I’ve lost track of howmany times I’ve heard aRepublican say they voted

against a bill because it was“bad for business.”Republicans and Tea Partiersmade it clear they intend toreduce regulations imposedon business, not increasethem. Such regulatory reduc-tions will create more serioushealth problems forAmericans. Since they alsointend to repeal the healthcare bill, those of us sickenedby toxins released into theenvironment by big businesswill be denied health care orface financial ruin paying forit.BARBARA PROULXChesterfield

New PD not free to residents

The Bay Voice article that

appeared on Nov. 24 aboutthe new police station forNew Baltimore missed a veryteachable moment for MayorLarry Smith. I support thenew space for the P.D. butquestion Mayor Smith’sstatement that “This is beingdone at no cost to the tax-payers.” Funds within anEnterprise Fund belong tothe taxpayers. In an erawhere many of us have lostall faith in government,statements like that catchmy attention fast. Mr. Smith,those funds are public funds.The $800,000 may be wiselyspent on the new space, butit will still cost $800,000 inpublic funds. It may havebeen generated over manyyears; and the new space

may not present any “addi-tional burden on taxpayers,”but it is still public funds. Toview it otherwise is to think,“It didn’t cost anythingbecause I charged it.”DAN CHISHOLMChesterfield

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LETTERSt o t h e e d i t o r

THANKYOU !

Readers respond to story oncause of Sheena’s closing

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The Voice welcomes letters from our readers. Contact the editor at editor@voicenews.comPAGE 6 December 8, 2010

Sheena’sMarketplace

in NewBaltimoreclosed itsdoors last

month.

The Voice is a weekly newspaper dedicated to bringing local news and information to readers in two counties