By Jed I. Knight
2/10/2020
Last week’s State of the Union speech saw President Trump lauding the positive effects his administration has had on the US economy. While the S&P 500 is riding all-time high and unemployment is at a 50 year low, one local man is certainly not feeling prosperity.
Chester C. Hayes, owner of “Work Gloves n’ Things” inside Laurel Mall has seen a rapid decline in business over the last three years of the Trump administration. “People just don’t need no cheap gloves no more. Now they just go down to old Rural King and pay out the nose”, Chester explained.
I asked Chester if he felt President Trump was truthful when he said that his Trump tax cuts were helping the middle class, to which he replied, “I (d)on’t pay no taxes anyway, taxes is for losers”. I then asked Chester what, if anything, he could do to combat the change in work glove buying trends. He answered, “I started selling tape”. Whether this meant packing tape, or Scotch tape was unclear.
One thing very clear to Chester however is that local businesses must adapt to an ever-changing economy. In closing, I asked Chester if there was anything he would like to say to the customers of the Dunbar area. Chester’s message to everyone is, “If any all yinz goin’ down Speedy Meedy y’all don(‘t) mind pickin(g) me up a $10 scratchie, I got money on me”.
