Thank you for telling your story. If there is any hope for your store to survive I hope it does.
This is what has happened in my city in Washington state. Not with a grocery store but with veterinarian business. Corporations have purchased all but a new vet business in the area. Now it costs double what we use to pay for services that are far less welcoming or personable. And on weekends we were having to drive an or hour or two for emergency vet care.
Charlotte, thank you so much for sharing this. Your story is powerful and it is the absolute heart of the issue.
What you described—the corporate buyout of a local vet, the doubled costs, the loss of personal connection, the scarcity of care—that is a perfect, textbook example of The Rust 🦠 at work. It infects a healthy, productive part of the community and replaces it with a cold, extractive, and inefficient machine.
You are not alone in this fight. Connecting these seemingly separate battles, whether it's for our groceries or for our pets, is the entire purpose of this mission. Thank you for being on the front lines.
My nephew, with his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, built a very successful PT business in the PDX area. After a dozen years, a national chain bought his business. They used a noncompete requirement which he understood verbally to mean he had to take one year off, and then could practice across the valley, just not near his former clinics. After the sale was completed, their corporate attorneys sent him a letter saying he couldn't open a new practice near any clinic affiliated with them, anywhere.
The business model extant in the US stinks. It needs revised.
Tax the rich. Oblige/reward them to donate to actual, prosocial true charities. Feed, clothe and shelter the poor.
Mrs. S, thank you so much for sharing your nephew's story. It's absolutely infuriating, and it cuts right to the bone of the problem. He built something successful, something valuable to his community, and The Rust 🦠 saw it not as something to nurture, but as something to absorb and neutralize.
What happened with that noncompete agreement... that's not just "business." That's weaponized law. It's a classic tactic they use to ensure that once a Gear ⚙️ sells out, they can never compete again. They didn't just buy his business; they bought his future in that community.
You are 100% right – the business model stinks. It stinks because it's designed for extraction, not creation. It treats skilled people like your nephew as resources to be used up and discarded.
Your points about taxing the rich and supporting communities are vital. But the core of our mission here is to go a step further. We need to build our own systems, our own local economies – like your nephew did before the chain bought him out – that are strong enough to resist being absorbed in the first place. We need to forge the Phalanx 🔱 so the Gears have the collective power to say "no" to The Rust's predatory deals.
Your nephew's story is exactly why this fight matters. Thank you for bringing it here.
Agreed. I think he did, but didn't have the money to pursue it. He went into another field briefly, is now working for someone else. He missed the clinical work, which as owner put him working on paperwork and authorizations. He is much happier doing clinical work again.
Thank you for telling your story. If there is any hope for your store to survive I hope it does.
This is what has happened in my city in Washington state. Not with a grocery store but with veterinarian business. Corporations have purchased all but a new vet business in the area. Now it costs double what we use to pay for services that are far less welcoming or personable. And on weekends we were having to drive an or hour or two for emergency vet care.
Take care of yourself.
Charlotte, thank you so much for sharing this. Your story is powerful and it is the absolute heart of the issue.
What you described—the corporate buyout of a local vet, the doubled costs, the loss of personal connection, the scarcity of care—that is a perfect, textbook example of The Rust 🦠 at work. It infects a healthy, productive part of the community and replaces it with a cold, extractive, and inefficient machine.
You are not alone in this fight. Connecting these seemingly separate battles, whether it's for our groceries or for our pets, is the entire purpose of this mission. Thank you for being on the front lines.
My nephew, with his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, built a very successful PT business in the PDX area. After a dozen years, a national chain bought his business. They used a noncompete requirement which he understood verbally to mean he had to take one year off, and then could practice across the valley, just not near his former clinics. After the sale was completed, their corporate attorneys sent him a letter saying he couldn't open a new practice near any clinic affiliated with them, anywhere.
The business model extant in the US stinks. It needs revised.
Tax the rich. Oblige/reward them to donate to actual, prosocial true charities. Feed, clothe and shelter the poor.
Educate the children.
Care for and respect elders.
Mrs. S, thank you so much for sharing your nephew's story. It's absolutely infuriating, and it cuts right to the bone of the problem. He built something successful, something valuable to his community, and The Rust 🦠 saw it not as something to nurture, but as something to absorb and neutralize.
What happened with that noncompete agreement... that's not just "business." That's weaponized law. It's a classic tactic they use to ensure that once a Gear ⚙️ sells out, they can never compete again. They didn't just buy his business; they bought his future in that community.
You are 100% right – the business model stinks. It stinks because it's designed for extraction, not creation. It treats skilled people like your nephew as resources to be used up and discarded.
Your points about taxing the rich and supporting communities are vital. But the core of our mission here is to go a step further. We need to build our own systems, our own local economies – like your nephew did before the chain bought him out – that are strong enough to resist being absorbed in the first place. We need to forge the Phalanx 🔱 so the Gears have the collective power to say "no" to The Rust's predatory deals.
Your nephew's story is exactly why this fight matters. Thank you for bringing it here.
That non-compete is probably illegal, but depends on state law. He should consult a business/contract attorney in his state.
Agreed. I think he did, but didn't have the money to pursue it. He went into another field briefly, is now working for someone else. He missed the clinical work, which as owner put him working on paperwork and authorizations. He is much happier doing clinical work again.