Politics & Government

Did Davis Ace's Mitt Romney Letter Affect Your Shopping Habits?

Let us know in the comments below.

The owner of Davis Ace Hardware sent a letter to her employees before the presidential election in November encouraging them to vote for Mitt Romney. It got a lot of attention across most local publications, including Daviswiki, with commenters questioning the letter's appropriateness. It got picked up by the Huffington Post as well, where it gathered more than 2,000 comments. 

Much of the discussion around the issue had to do with whether people would boycott the store as a result of the letter.

We recently received an email from a Davis resident who said he didn't make active plans to boycott, but says he has found himself avoiding the store as a result of the letter. He wonders if he's alone in this. 

Find out what's happening in Daviswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Have you altered your purchasing habits, or not? Let us know below. Here's his letter: 

I hesitated to comment (on the original story) because I wanted to give the issue time to see how I felt. The letter offended me, but I wanted to see if that offense would translate into action.

Find out what's happening in Daviswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It's now almost the end of January, and I can see that for me it has affected my shopping pattern.  I was a loyal customer of Davis Ace, always choosing it over big box rivals whenever possible.  I tried to steer clear of Target, especially the Davis Target.  I sometimes drove to Woodland to avoid the Davis Target (I live in N. Davis, so for me distances were similar).

Since the news of "The Letter" I find myself avoiding Davis Ace most of the time. I've only gone twice or 3 times since the election, and each time it was for a specific product that I knew they had instead of a general shopping stop.  The Letter freed me (in my mind) to shop Davis Target, and I guess I don't care whether Davis Ace survives anymore or not.  I understand it would be a blow to Downtown, and it would be a blow to all the nice folks who work there. 

And yet I can't get "The Letter" out of my mind, and the reprehensible conduct and political views that put it into the hands of the Davis Ace employees.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here