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["Michael D. Thomas" <mdthomas AT mindspring.com>]

>> But I shop at Lowe's, too. Does that make me a bad
>> person? I don't think so.

>Actually, no. Lowe's is a NC company.

Right-o! Lowe's was founded in Wilkes County, where I grew up. Lowe's is one 
of the few Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in N.C. and has made a lot 
of North Carolinians very wealthy. 

But on the flip side.... remember Holly Farms chicken? That was founded and 
headquartered in Wilkes County, too. But Tyson chicken bought it and all of 
those white collar jobs went away. (BTW, Lowe's is pulling a lot of its HQ 
jobs out of Wilkes and the housing market is depressed. If you want a nice 
house in the foothills, Wilkes is your place.... a mansion for the price of a 
condo...)

Wal-Mart was also founded and headquartered in a small town in Arkansas. 
Since Wal-Mart expects their suppliers to have offices nearby, it is the 
major force in the economy for all of N.W. Arkansas.

I wonder why these tiny towns give birth to these major retailers? Are there 
other examples? I think Home Depot is an Atlanta company, but what about 
Target?