Re: Tails

Hernando County is having another time of its life. Now that the county is even more attractive to retailers, the future is as bright as the discount-priced incandescent light bulbs along the aisles at Wal-Mart. It’s as though the County is the magnet and retailers are drawn into another wave, or more likely a waiver, of progress.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Looking at it another way, retailers are the flame and Hernando residents are moths given no other option for a brighter future other than a progression employment opportunities. How many mothers and fathers foresee their sons and daughters making a career at one of these soon-to-be newly constructed visions of dollars and cents to the County. Medical benefits would be nice but how likely is a retailer to provide such a benefit? (It’s an honest question; I don’t know if they do/don’t.)

The increased number of youth in the area during the past few years will have the opportunity to apply their acquired knowledge and skills after graduation, if not getting a head start as part time employees while in High School. The future is theirs for the taking. They don’t have much choice but to take it or leave it, as in heading outside the economic confines of the County.

The real winners will be those of self-interest. The County targets increased revenue in retail sales of an additional $800,000,000 (800 million buckaroos) in the next few years, as proudly reported by the Hernando Times. There’s a hint that there’s a reliance on attracting consumers from surrounding counties – these are the folks who have other job opportunities that provide them with salaries quite a bit above the average wage earner in Hernando. Locally, how much additional disposable income do consumers have unless it happens to be plastic in nature?

The actual portion of sales receipts that will find its way to County pockets is an evasive realization to most of us.

There’ll be a resurrection of sorts with lots of construction other than residential homes but how many of those jobs will be garnered by the labor force? How many local businesses will profit from supplying the variety of materials needed to bring these businesses to fruition?

Taking all into consideration, executives of those well-known companies whose headquarters are located elsewhere outside the County, and their investors, will be the biggest profiteers for their local ventures.

Perhaps the most positive aspect of these newest retailers is how the added traffic will cause a backup of cars, creating scenarios that will lessen the ability of speeders to terrify those who are more inclined to respect posted speed limits.

Other than that, it’s just the S.O.S.O. of retails.