There is yet another boycott in our town and this one opposes corporate greed, which is apparently a great menace. Do you remember the objection to, for instance, Costco coming to town? It was fear of a diminished small-town image, if I remember rightly; the noble classic mom-‘n-pops would be ridden out of town on a rail.

This happens, and it’s a great struggle for those who stand in the way of progress, but there is a benefit, I must admit, and it’s seen first by those who cross the line and visit the enemy and return with reports of a refrigerator unbelievably cheap or the price on color TVs less than what we paid for our old black and white!

“Das Kapital” rose in the West and came stalking into town and found our neighborly soft-core capitalism easy pickin’s. See, there was a natural neighborly buy-and-sell at work in my old home town and it went like this:

Clayton’s was on 78 North and Dilly’s was a mile, no more no less, to the south, and to the west of Dilly’s was Stop ‘n Shop, and on 78 also came a Quik Stop, and south of the tracks (which means what you imagine it means) there was a good-sized grocery store. There was Sadie’s in Tank Town and East End had a store without name, and I was in neither nor was any other white citizen.

Sometimes there was trouble. Some out-of-towner determined on opening a produce stand where a washateria had been, and he brought his corn and rutabagas and his stand was directly across the highway from Clayton’s.

He was gone by summer, but he left a permanent effect. The Claytons were watching and writing down license plate numbers. There was dirt between the Claytons and anyone who had ventured onto the grounds of the old washateria.

A sign appeared on one shelf in Clayton’s: “We have no argument with those who sell for less; they should know what their stuff is worth.”

That’s a good comeback … until you realize that a bottle of Heinz ketchup is exactly the same wherever on earth you buy it.

So we broke ranks, one family then another, and went shopping out of town to Gibson’s, hoping we remained unobserved. Soon there was no more White’s Department Store or Hunt’s or Grant Vogue.

Here’s what I did not understand: Sales and competition for selling. I watched as Mr. Clayton, first of a three-generation operators of the food store, spoke amiably with a customer and me thinking, “He’s selling you goods way above what he paid for them!” It was all capitalist profiteering to me, no matter how friendly the encounter.

I remember when a good buddy of mine who owned a bike shop (which is no more) lamented the coming of Costco because he was being undersold. The objection to corporate greed was because the mom-‘n-pops would die due to the lower prices they could not afford to match.

Way back in my youth, I remember the local Woolworths and Pennys were routed by the big box store rising like Godzilla 30 miles away. But Godzilla was aided and abetted by frugal citizens who saw they could save plenty on lawn mowers and hand tools, and, without announcing their going over to the dark side, shamefacedly did so.

Costco has a deal with credit card suppliers to provide cards good for entry into Costco warehouses. Once, that credit card was an American Express. Came time to renew that contract, and Amex fielded a battalion of double dippers from Yale in matching suits who in private laughed at the number on the other side of the negotiating table who told how they had their start with Costco “stocking shelves.”

The corporate don began by extolling the advantages to Costco in “partnering” with Amex. Costco’s CEO said the members of Costco did not often shop where Amex was accepted due to its higher billing cost.

“You’re not my partner,” added the CEO of Costco, “You’re suppliers, like the guy who sells me ketchup. If I can get the same product cheaper elsewhere, I will.”

That’s why our Costco entry today is with our Visa credit card.

Tim Bowden is a Felton resident.