I think the idea of buy local is great..
the reality is with limited incomes people have to buy what is most cost effective and gives them a quality of product that is acceptable.

Businesses can pay the prices, they pass it on…

if you can do it , it sounds great tom e….

Bought a trailer from Winfield, and saved $5,000 plus. That is a 18% savings. I don’t mind paying a 5% premium to support local, but it was 16 hrs of driving and 200 liters of fuel.

For clothing items, I would rather by local. For ticket items, over $500.00 to $2,000.00, it should be priced with in 10%. For items that can be easily shipped by courier, it has to be with in 10%.

It is a new era for commercial business. Even the big operators are suffering, Look at Sears. It is changing, and business owners need to understand the customers need. Most of us don’t mind paying a minor premium, to local business’s with a staff of smiles. Give the customer more than what they will get from a big box store. Give them a reason to come back to say hi, I need to get another one. That is what will be the secret to success in downtown Prince George.

Take a good look at restaurants like Nancy O’s and the Copper Pig. It’s not the food alone that makes them successful, its the scene they create. Give the people more than they came in for, and you will win them over.

This leads back to why I bought my trailer out of town. The big one down town, the sales department would not even come out of the office to greet the customers. The big one by the airport. We waited for half hour for a sales person to tell us, go out there and see what you like, and come back when you find something. At Winfield, the salesperson did not sell us a trailer, she helped us buy one! The local business’s and their managers better get off their high horse and start changing the image on the floor, if they want to succeed.

The same thing goes for car dealerships here. You can pretty much go anywhere else and save thousands, and they’ll even pay for your plane ticket there. Dealerships here, especially, Woodweaton (GM, Honda), and Ford are painful to deal with if you want a fair price.

Last vehicle we bought, we did buy it in town. But the girl that came in for the closer, we walked out on her, and told the manager, change her high pressure add ons, or were out of here. They did, and we bought the vehicle.

Last vehicle our family purchased we bought out of province. The price was nearly 10,000 less for the same new vehicle, plus they paid for the flight/hotel, and were able to deal with our PST directly. When we showed PG Motors what we were offered, they didn’t even attempt to compete. Same with SMP GM in Houston, BC. Way better pricing, and Wood Wheaton won’t bother competing. Such arrogance and bad business.

It is hard to judge and compare used equipment, because we don’t know what there cost was to have it on the lot, But if it is new and from the factory, the cost should be near the same, regardless of Prince George, or Edmonton. So why such a variance???

I love my GM product. Best diesel on the market, so when I need the next one, I am going to give Wood Wheaton a chance, but I am going to check out Edmonton, Kelowna and Calgary. If I am spending $70k on it, I would tolerate a couple thousand, but not $10k.

When I was shopping for a tiller fishing boat in PG I had one dealer tell me that they didn’t have any in stock, but that they could remove the windshield and steering wheel from one of their in-stock boats to make it work for me. This was after they told me that they couldn’t really get the model I wanted (complete BS since I was willing to wait and pay additional delivery charges).

I looked at the guy like he had three heads, drive down to Chilliwack the next week and came home with a new boat.

A friend bought a gmc terrane from wood wheaton last year & this year got a recall for rust on the door sills. WW told her to take it to 3 body shops for an estimate % they would pick the lowest price. How’s that for service?

A few years ago, I purchased two new vehicles over a three month period. I shopped locally but ended up purchasing from out of town dealers. I saved almost $20,000.00 on the two vehicles, however I had to buy plane tickets to go pick up my vehicles.

Even subtracting a whopping $2,000.00 for plane tickets, fuel, meals and expenses, I still saved $18,000.00! Mind you, I had to factor in my time for my flight and my drive home. Each trip saved me approximately $9,000.00, but I was able to fly down and drive home the same day. Even at 14 hours per trip, a savings of $9,000.00 works out to $643.00 for each hour of my time!

I don’t know what your time is worth, but I’ll give up an hour to save $643.00 any day!

I did try to buy locally, but the savings were far too large to ignore!

Whole-heartedly agree with all of you on this! “BUY LOCAL” when the prices are fair, but how can local businesses justify what amounts to price gouging? I too dont mind paying a little extra to support local people, but (as has been mentioned here) when you couple high prices with poor customer service.. I will go far outta my way to go elsewhere.

Car dealerships in PG are a great example of this. 2 companies own the monopoly on new car dealers in this town, try out their service and pricing. No wonder car buyers are flocking to Houston, Quesnel or even the lower mainland.

Those local businesses that pride themselves on customer service, (there are a few shining examples) literally OWN my business. A certain hardware chain here in town is the first place that comes to mind. Good customer service will easily offset a minor price difference.

The local businesses that put the customer first and keep the prices fair, dont really need an advertising campaign. Word of mouth, referals by loyal/satisfied customers will keep the sales heading their way. I gladly give referals to businesses who are deserving, and warnings about those who crap all over the unsuspecting public.