ttbn,
What is it you you mean by "socialism"?

rehctub,

I'm not sure that we can step back in time with all things.
However, we do our meat shopping at our local butchers -
not that we eat all that much meat nowadays - preferring
to stick to chicken and fish. But I've got to confess that
we love the home-made sausages that taste so much better
than the ones at Coles or Woolies. We also go to our local
green grocer for our fruit and vegs. Much more variety and
better fresher quality. We also have our local bakers -
for our cakes, pastries, and strudels. I also have a
European deli that's great for just about everything from
breads, cold cuts, cheeses, and so on.

Supermarkets are for products like paper towels, toilet paper,
et cetera.

I find that if you look for what you want - you will find a
shop that sells it. Everyone knows me at my butchers,
green-grocers, cake shop, deli, and even at my pharmacy.
I keep going back to the same people.

I couldn't agree more, but have to plead guilty of doing it myself.

It is so easy to park in one spot, walk through one shop, & go home with all my food for a week.

I have all the excuses, I can't walk far without a shopping trolley to lean on, & parking at each shop is too difficult. I can't stand for long waiting to be served, the butcher gave me some really tough meat, yes all the excuses, but I could organise it if I really wanted. It is not so bad in a supermarket complex, but I find the independents in them offer least.

We get what we deserve, & once the little guy is gone, we will be captive of the big one.

Their success is starting to cause their downfall. To make a few lousy cents out of us, the push to own brand & generic products is accelerating. I will not buy many things in an “own brand” pack. There are a dozen mundane food products that I won’t touch, at Coles/Woollies, which means shopping at the only independent supermarket in one of the 6 nearby towns I can chose. Their meat is awful, & prices are higher, but I can get the tomato sauce I want.

25 years ago we had 2 super markets within 23 kilometres of us, now we have 15, although the population has increased by less than 30%. Can they all really be making a profit? Is that profit only by importing cheaper lower quality products.

Note to self, try harder to avoid these octopi

Butch you may remember I told you as a kid from the bush my first city job was heaving the bone or fat baskets from all over Sydney on to the back of Eddy Scarfs trucks, gee we had it made side of mutton to take home on the Coma mail for mum dad and kids, well those days are gone, tried the be loyal to the butcher as he is to you, they can not afford to compete, big two? can not buy dog bones under six bucks a kg, chicken necks four bucks, BUT drum sticks for three bucks? one stop, still walk past three butcher shops one of them is chicken only, all servicing the very top end, have to eat bloke so big two or starve

China isn't taking our manufacturing, it's being deliberately outsourced to them by Australian business owners, in the same way that Call Centres have been moved to Mumbai and the Phillipines.
There's no conspiracy at work here - it's just business.

Business owners want to increase their profits and consumers demand ever cheaper goods but some are happy to pay lip service by complaining about the situation they are in part responsible for.

As for the dreaded and typically misused "socialism" word, farmers are Good Time Capitalists but expect to be bailed out by socialist policy taxpayer handouts during bad times, and one of the main reasons for rising electricity prices is that the socialist-publicly-owned-and-built power system was sold off to capitalists to be bled for profit.
Also, I was born in a socialist Public Hospital, educated in a socialist Public School and drive to work on socialist public roads or ride on a socialist railway, always under the protection of a socialist police force and covered by a socialist health system.

Up here in India it is almost impossible to find a supermarket; there are literally millions of small businesses and they appear to be doing well.

The country is alive, even the beggars are to well dressed, the railways are a wonder and in Mumbai they are building an underground metro which will cover the length of the city (Nth to Sth).
Our flat is only a three minute walk from the nearest station (hole in the ground at present) so our son will be able to enjoy close transport, and we are but five minutes from the East-West above ground (actually elevated) metro.
This is a fast, on time and very clean system and much cheaper than tunnelling; maybe the NSW Govt could build one along Parramatta Road!