One of the candidates in this fall’s election has been joking (I guess) that she’s the “socks and underwear” candidate because she wants to bring in a big box retailer like Wal-Mart – so that we will be able to buy socks and underwear in Carrboro. That whole theme keeps rubbing me the wrong way. I mean, you can buy socks and underwear in this town.

In fact, off the top of my head, I came up with a list of five stores in town that sell socks (Townsend, Bertram & Co., Fleet Feet, Clean Machine, Performance Bikes, and Dollar General). So I rode around town and did a little comparison shopping. I found that the five stores listed all sell men’s socks and that among them they carry 22 different brands of socks – in several dozens different styles – with prices starting at 66 cents a pair.

Then I got to thinking: I wonder if Wal-Mart can really do better? So I got in my car and drove 8 miles through 11 traffic lights to New Hope Commons. And what do you think I found? Wal-Mart sells 11 brands of men’s socks in about 2 dozen styles with prices starting at 63 cents a pair.

Maybe some of this fall’s candidates need to spend a little more time shopping downtown – unless you just can’t spare the extra 3 cents a pair.

This entry was written by Mark on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 and is filed under Mark's notes. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.