In fact, the new patriotic peddler of products, located on Maple Road in Elma, has set up shop in the showroom of one of my former employers: McCarthy Ford. The newer facility, complete with state-of-the-art service areas, has been in use as a towing and collision repair facility (talk about one-stop shopping!) since McCarthy’s closure and subsequent sale a few years ago. It looks as if the building may be gaining a little extra revenue as a commercial storefront now, too.
While many people gripe and complain every time they see “Made in China” adorning consumer packaged goods, whether this dealer in all things domestic can stay afloat remains to be seen. But front-page coverage a week prior to grand opening—definitly some patriotic PR and buzz building.
I hope owner Mark Andol carries some high-quality toys. Several years ago when I filled a long-term temporary position at the Fisher-Price factory store in East Aurora, it seemed all I put up with were customer gripes about Chinese-made crap. It didn’t help that this was during the same time that Mattel (Fisher-Price’s parent), was in hot water for lead-tainted Chinese toys. It got so bad that I developed an alternative-country-of-manufacture list (gotta keep it politically correct!) detailing merchandise not made in China. Even to this day at Kohl’s I hear complaints about shoes from China. Good luck finding shoes at big-box prices from anywhere else other than China. (Even made-in-USA champ New Balance generally doesn’t include 100% USA materials in its kicks.)
One final irony and then a few photos to enjoy. This morning on the way to work at Kohl’s, I took Maple Road so I could check out the new facility and snap a few photos. The sun was rising directly in front of the building (best time for lighting). Then I jumped on NY-400 and headed to Transit Rd. I passed DeLacy Ford—the dealer thought largely responsible for McCarthy’s demise. Isn’t it funny the way so many of my jobs tied into this little blog post? Irony, irony.
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