(Late Prepper)—Popular Northeast grocer Stop & Shop is going to shutter many of their stores that they consider to be “underperforming.” But while this appears on the surface to be another corporate casualty of a tanking economy, there a three important takeaways that must be noted.
“Stop & Shop will make some difficult decisions to close select underperforming store locations to help ensure the long-term health and future growth for our business,” a spokesperson for the supermarket chain said in a statement.
According to NY Post:
The Massachusetts-based company currently operates nearly 400 stores in five states — the Bay State along with New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It has “remodeled” and made improvements to nearly half its stores.
It’s not a big deal, right? Actually, there is more than nuance that should be understood about this news. Here are the key takeaways:
Being Aloof Ahead of the Election
Despite breaking the news at an investor meeting and communicating the scope of their plans to their biggest benefactors, the chain has not released any information to the public. This is conspicuous because there is no viable reason to remain aloof at this stage unless their plans are to hold the information until a more opportune moment.
Considering there won’t be a better time for the sake of the company or investors to go into details about their plans now, it’s safe to attribute their secrecy to the current election cycle. Instead of just being another example of how poorly the economy is performing, they’re doing the minimum required disclosure to the pubic and quiet disclosure to major investors. They will hold details until after the election.
This Is Driven by Democrat Policy, Not Bidenomics
It’s easy to take every foul turn in the economy and blame it fully on the Biden-Harris regime, but this isn’t one of those. Consumers and producers are feeling the negative effects of Bidenomics, but grocery stores aren’t nearly as affected. Instead, this particular series of closures can be attributed to Democrat policies which have reigned in the Northeast for decades.
That’s not to say that Bidenomics didn’t contribute to the challenges. People with less money relative to price hikes are obviously buying less. But food is a necessity which is why inflation doesn’t necessarily harm a grocer’s bottom line as much as the consumers and the producers.
Food regulations, taxes, and mismanagement of infrastructure have more direct impacts on the profitability of a grocery store than inflation or other elements of Bidenomics. This falls more on local Democrats than the White House.
War on Food
It isn’t just leftist political maneuvers that harm grocers. Food in general is under attack on multiple fronts in the United States which is why inflation has hit sustenance costs harder than other areas.
This is not a glitch. Grocery stores shutting down in 2024 are part of the plan to bring food insecurity to Main Street America. Costs are not going to go down and any increases in income will be more than offset by rising inflation. It behooves Americans to take control of their food sourcing any way they can.
For some, this comes down to simply building relationships with local farmers and ranchers. Starting or enhancing a garden or even a homestead is a best practice.
Others, particularly those in cities, may not have easy access to farmers and they may not have the room for a garden. The best advice is to leave the cities, but that’s not practical or even possible for many. The best option in such a situation is to stock up on as much shelf-stable food as possible. Even a surplus of inexpensive (for now) canned foods is better than having to rely on government if the food supply chain breaks down.
Some would say that just because a grocery store chain started chopping stores that we shouldn’t panic. In reality, this is just one in a long line of events that point to the notion that taking control of our personal food supply is a best practice whether disaster strikes or not.
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