TUPELO — In a stunning display of hypocrisy writ large, a local woman had many people scratching their heads this week when only seconds after propagating the importance of shopping local, she proceeded to complain that Tupelo still doesn’t have a Target.
49-year-old Patricia McVey claims everyone blew her words out of proportion.
“I don’t understand why people are so confused. If we bring a Target here to Tupelo then it will be local, so we’ll be shopping local. It makes perfect sense.”
Despite her gross misunderstanding of what shopping local means, there are some who agree with her.
“She ain’t wrong,” says Karen Burroughs. “I’m in a book club with Trish, and she’s always got good ideas. She was the one who suggested we read the Twilight Saga. Team Jacob, by the way. And now we’re reading Fifty Shades, also at her recommendation. I trust her book choices, and I trust her understanding of basic economics.”
McVey was asked what she could get at Target that she couldn’t get at one of Tupelo’s two Walmarts.
“I got this shirt at the Southaven Target. It says ‘Someone Please Call Nine Wine Wine.’ It’s like it was made just for me. They sell it at Walmart too, but buying it from Target makes me look like a fun wine mom; buying it from Walmart would really affirm my alcoholism.”
McVey’s attitude is a sobering reminder of many Tupelo residents’ lukewarm habit of exhorting the patronization of local businesses while simultaneously calling for the ingress of a behemoth retail corporation that will further divest money from local retailers.
“I’ll always support local businesses,” McVey confesses, “but I’ll also always look at an empty field and think that would be a good place for a Target.”
