There are several stores near me..?

Question

Ok, I live in a rural area, so ther arent that many choices when it comes to convinence stores, and if one dosent have what you want, its another 10 minute drive to find another one.. but I think that these store owners are taking advantage of the fact that they are the only store within a decent radius, especially for super-quick stuff like a bottle of pop and a bag of chips.. because they are FILTHY! I mean filthy gross! One can never be sure about how long the food has been in there, everything is dirty (including cans of pop), the shelves have dust and spider webs on them and the clerks smoke behind the cash till.. while other customers are there! The food is stale and they do not keep decent business hours for being the only store in town. They are all independently owned and operated, so who do I complain to? Also, who do I complain to about a non-chain 'grocery' store with the same problem (i wouldnt buy a can of dog food for a stray dog from there!)?

Please help!

Answer 1

You can complain to the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), you can also complain to your local health authority.  Whatever the town, or more likely the country, you're in has some sort of health committee or commission who's job it is to investigate things like unsafe or unsanitary conditions, try looking around the county's website.

Answer 2

Your county health department.

Most of these guys take a pretty dim view of stores selling food, when they're not clean enough to sell fertilizer.

The distance thing is just good business.  They don't want to be too close together.  This might induce price wars. (Do any of you remember those?).